France`s Fabius in Riyadh to support Yemen coalition

Riyadh: French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius was in Riyadh on Sunday to express support for Saudi Arabia`s battle against Iran-backed rebels in neighbouring Yemen.

"Concerning Yemen, we are here to demonstrate our support, especially political, to the Saudi authorities," Fabius told reporters as he began a series of meetings with the Saudi leadership including King Salman.

The kingdom, an important ally of France, leads a coalition of nine Arab countries which since March 26 has carried out air strikes against the Huthi Shiite rebels who overran the capital Sanaa in September.

Riyadh feared the rebels would take over the entire country and move it into the orbit of Shiite Iran, Sunni Saudi Arabia`s regional rival.

The Huthis, allied with army units loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, have been fighting forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, who fled to the Saudi capital Riyadh late last month.

Fabius would reaffirm to his Saudi hosts that "France is naturally on the side of its regional partners for the restoration of stability in Yemen," his entourage said.

Paris, like Riyadh and Washington, considers Hadi as leader of the legitimate government of Yemen, which had supported a United States drone war against Al-Qaeda fighters there.

"It will be necessary, at one moment or another, to hold talks" for a political solution, Fabius said.

The US says it has stepped up weapons deliveries in support of the Saudi-led coalition, is providing aerial and satellite intelligence, and airborne tankers for refuelling coalition aircraft.

Paris has not so far declared anything other than political support for the Saudi-led coalition.

Iran has dismissed as "utter lies" accusations that it has armed the rebels, and its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that the coalition`s "criminal acts" against the Huthis must end.

Fabius arrived on Saturday night and was to depart later on Sunday.