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Russian Envoy Visits Iran to Consolidate Stability in Syria

Alexander Lavrentiev, the Russian president’s special envoy to Syria, meets with Ali Larijani, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, in Tehran on Tuesday. (Tasnim)
Alexander Lavrentiev, the Russian president’s special envoy to Syria, meets with Ali Larijani, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, in Tehran on Tuesday. (Tasnim)
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Russian Envoy Visits Iran to Consolidate Stability in Syria

Alexander Lavrentiev, the Russian president’s special envoy to Syria, meets with Ali Larijani, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, in Tehran on Tuesday. (Tasnim)
Alexander Lavrentiev, the Russian president’s special envoy to Syria, meets with Ali Larijani, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, in Tehran on Tuesday. (Tasnim)

Alexander Lavrentiev, the Russian presidential envoy to Syria, arrived in Tehran on Tuesday for high-level discussions aimed at bolstering coordination between Moscow and Tehran on developments in the Middle East and promoting regional stability.

A Russian diplomatic source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the visit comes as part of “Moscow’s broader efforts to stabilize the region and prevent foreign interference aimed at undermining its security.”

The source added that Russia is seeking to “normalize relations between regional actors” to lay the groundwork for long-term stability.

According to Iran’s Tasnim news agency, Lavrentiev met in Tehran with Ali Larijani, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and held separate talks with Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister.

An Iranian statement carried by Russian state media said the talks reaffirmed the shared position of Moscow and Tehran on developments in the Middle East, stressing the importance of preserving Syria’s territorial integrity, defending its sovereignty, and preventing the country from becoming a breeding ground for terrorism.

While the discussions also addressed the reimposition of European sanctions on Iran in connection with its nuclear program, the timing of Lavrentiev’s visit drew particular attention. It followed just days after Syrian interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa's visit to Moscow for talks with President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin.

Analysts have linked the two visits, noting Lavrentiev’s longstanding role in managing discussions on the Syrian conflict through the Astana peace process.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not commented on the visit, and details have largely come from Iranian sources.

However, experts in Moscow view the trip as part of a Russian push to encourage Iran to refrain from interfering in Syria’s internal affairs.

The Russian diplomatic source explained that Lavrentiev’s visit reflects Moscow’s strategy to normalize relations among all states in the Middle East, including Iran, which it views as a “major regional power.”

Russia has a direct security interest in maintaining stability in its near neighborhood, he remarked.

He underlined that Iran, alongside Türkiye, has been a key partner in years-long efforts to reach a political settlement in Syria. Through the Astana framework, the parties have coordinated to ease tensions, uphold ceasefires, and reduce the suffering of civilians.

“With the end of the previous era and the arrival of a new Syrian administration,” the diplomat said, “there is a growing need for continued coordination among various regional actors, particularly Russia, Türkiye, Iran, and the Gulf states, to ensure security and stability throughout the region.”

He added that Moscow is seeking to counter any external schemes aimed at destabilizing the Middle East, pointing specifically to “Israeli expansionist policies and US attempts to impose direct hegemony over the region.”

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Arab World

Sisi Meets Pezeshkian in New Delhi, Calls on Iran to Stop the Escalation

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attends the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 13, 2026. (Alexander Kazakov / POOL / AFP)
In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attends the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 13, 2026. (Alexander Kazakov / POOL / AFP)
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Sisi Meets Pezeshkian in New Delhi, Calls on Iran to Stop the Escalation

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attends the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 13, 2026. (Alexander Kazakov / POOL / AFP)
In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attends the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 13, 2026. (Alexander Kazakov / POOL / AFP)

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called on Iran on Sunday to “stop the escalation” in the region and attacks on Arab countries “to preserve the principles of good neighborliness and boost the historic and cultural ties that bind the people of the region.”

Sisi met with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi.

Egyptian presidential spokesman Mohamed el-Shennawy said Sisi stressed to Pezeshkian Cairo’s “firm stance in supporting efforts to restore stability in the region.”

Egypt hopes that Iran would “exert all possible efforts to stop the escalation and reach a sustainable comprehensive peaceful settlement to the crisis that would protect the sovereignty and assets of the nations in the region.”

Egypt has constantly expressed its full support to the security and stability of Arab countries, rejecting any form of violation that may undermine their sovereignty and stability.

It has repeatedly called for an immediate end to the escalation, saying serious dialogue and diplomacy were the ways to resolve pending issues in the region.

During a telephone call with Pezeshkian in May, Sisi called on Iran to show “some flexibility” and “avoid miscalculations”.

He expressed Cairo’s categorical rejection of any attack on the sovereignty of Gulf countries and threats to their territories.

Egypt and Iran severed diplomatic ties in 1979 before restoring diplomatic representation at the level of charge d’affaires eleven years later.

Egyptian and Iranian ministers have held several meetings in the past three years to discuss the possibility of developing relations between their countries.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has visited Cairo on more than one occasion where he has met with Sisi and senior officials.

Araghchi met his Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit.

Arab World

Fighting in Yemen Intensifies as Govt Attacks Houthis Along Read Sea

A member of the Yemeni government forces, including National Army and Taiz Axis forces, mans a turret mounted on the back of a pickup truck at a checkpoint along the al-Kadha frontline west of Taiz in western Yemen on September 13, 2026. (AFP)
A member of the Yemeni government forces, including National Army and Taiz Axis forces, mans a turret mounted on the back of a pickup truck at a checkpoint along the al-Kadha frontline west of Taiz in western Yemen on September 13, 2026. (AFP)
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Fighting in Yemen Intensifies as Govt Attacks Houthis Along Read Sea

A member of the Yemeni government forces, including National Army and Taiz Axis forces, mans a turret mounted on the back of a pickup truck at a checkpoint along the al-Kadha frontline west of Taiz in western Yemen on September 13, 2026. (AFP)
A member of the Yemeni government forces, including National Army and Taiz Axis forces, mans a turret mounted on the back of a pickup truck at a checkpoint along the al-Kadha frontline west of Taiz in western Yemen on September 13, 2026. (AFP)

The conflict in Yemen intensified on Sunday, as government forces launched attacks against Iran-backed Houthi group along the Red Sea.

The Yemeni government vowed to send more forces to the Red Sea coast after conceding a “painful” defeat last week when Houthis captured the port city of Mokha and an island on the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, a crucial shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.

The United Nations estimated that more than 80,000 people have been displaced by the fighting since the start of September.

One woman said a mortar shell fell nearby as she fled in the middle of the night from the town of Khawkha in the Houthi-held Hodeidah province along the Red Sea, shortly before it was captured by the militants.

“I saw with my own eyes cars and buses burning, and bodies of children and women were lying on the road in a horrific scene,” said the woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of concern for her and her family’s safety.

The Saudi civil defense overnight said a Houthi projectile fell in a different area near the border with Yemen along the Red Sea, injuring two people and damaging a mosque and several other buildings.

The National Resistance, a government-allied force that had controlled coastal areas, said more than 500 government fighters were killed on the west coast over the past four weeks — its first comprehensive toll. It said about 1,500 others had been wounded in the fighting since August 9.

It said more than 1,000 Houthis had been killed in the Hodeidah and Taiz provinces.

Sultan al-Aradah, a member of the ruling Presidential Leadership Council, described the collapse of government forces in the port city of Mokha and elsewhere on Yemen’s west coast as “painful and regrettable.”

Al-Aradah said in the televised interview aired late Saturday that forces “are currently regrouping and will return to the battle in one form or another.”

On Sunday, the Yemeni military said it launched airstrikes on Houthi positions in Mokha and the coastal town of Dhubab, and elsewhere in Taiz province.

The Houthis also reported strikes by the government forces in the province, as well as artillery shelling in the province of Saada, the Houthi stronghold on Yemen's northern borders.

Displaced Yemenis, from al-Khawkha city, 400 kilometers (249 miles) southwest of Sanaa, walk past their temporary shelter in Aden, Yemen, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (AP)

The Houthis' advance puts them just 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the US military base in Djibouti, on the other side of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. It's the main US base in Africa and one of several foreign military bases in Djibouti, including those of China, France and Japan.

The small Horn of Africa nation is already seeing the arrival of displaced Yemenis making the perilous water crossing. More than 2,000 Yemenis have reached Djibouti, the International Organization for Migration said Sunday.

Djibouti's Economy and Finance Minister Ilyas M. Dawaleh, said on X that the country's navy, coast guard and other specialized agencies were conducting rescue operations and providing emergency assistance.

Yemenis displaced by fighting worry about their survival

The UN migration agency said Sunday that more than 82,000 people in Yemen have been displaced since the beginning of September.

“The displaced people are in a very bad condition,” said Ahmad al-Masawi, the director of the Al Salam camp in the southern port city of Aden, who appealed to international organizations for assistance. “They left their homes quickly without any clothing or anything. They are crammed in camps, houses and even on roads."

Hussein Haydara sat outside a shelter at the camp in a white undershirt, as his children waited to be assigned to a tent. He worried about how far the shelter is from schools, hospitals and markets, and wondered how they will survive the next weeks or months.

Haydara had fled his home in Hodeidah once before, when the Houthis took it over in 2015. But this time feels more precarious.

“With the first displacement, we had time to plan things but this time we were forced to escape all of a sudden. One could hardly take their children and the lightest stuff possible,” he said.

Arab World

Yemeni Leadership Moves to Overcome Shock of Losing West Coast

An internally displaced (IDP) Yemen, one of many who fled their homes due to renewed clashes between Yemen's government forces and the Houthi group, sits in his shelter in the al-Kadha area of the Taiz governorate, southwestern Yemen on September 6, 2026. (AFP)
An internally displaced (IDP) Yemen, one of many who fled their homes due to renewed clashes between Yemen's government forces and the Houthi group, sits in his shelter in the al-Kadha area of the Taiz governorate, southwestern Yemen on September 6, 2026. (AFP)
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Yemeni Leadership Moves to Overcome Shock of Losing West Coast

An internally displaced (IDP) Yemen, one of many who fled their homes due to renewed clashes between Yemen's government forces and the Houthi group, sits in his shelter in the al-Kadha area of the Taiz governorate, southwestern Yemen on September 6, 2026. (AFP)
An internally displaced (IDP) Yemen, one of many who fled their homes due to renewed clashes between Yemen's government forces and the Houthi group, sits in his shelter in the al-Kadha area of the Taiz governorate, southwestern Yemen on September 6, 2026. (AFP)

The Yemeni leadership is moving to deal with the loss suffered by government forces on the west coast as a painful field setback, but one that should not become a turning point in the conflict with the Houthi group.

The government and Presidential Leadership Council are, meanwhile, seeking to rearrange forces and regain the initiative, while containing the humanitarian consequences of displacement and maintaining the operation of state institutions.

PLC member and Governor of Marib Sultan Al-Aradah said the developments on the west coast are "painful and regrettable," but are part of wars that witness advances and retreats.

The developments will not deflect from the main goal, he added.

In remarks carried by state media, he said the forces that withdrew from the coast are rearranging their ranks and will return to the battle "in one way or another."

Field developments on the west coast had forced government troops to redeploy after losing positions and areas, amid a broad Houthi escalation. The developments led to new waves of displacement, while a number of military personnel relocated to Marib, where Al-Aradah said authorities had prepared a camp for them and made arrangements to secure their needs.

Al-Aradah's remarks reveal that the Yemeni leadership is attempting to shift the handling of the west coast loss from a state of field shock to restoring combat capability.

This approach aligns with what Prime Minister Shaya Al-Zandani put forward during a cabinet meeting in the interim capital Aden, when he stressed that the difficult developments over the past days should not be understood as an end to the confrontation.

He stressed that battles are not measured by the outcome of a single day or a change in a position, but rather by the state's ability to reorganize its efforts, mobilize its resources, support its forces, maintain the cohesion of its institutions, and regain the initiative.

It appears that the Yemeni leadership's priority in the coming phase centers on rearranging the forces that withdrew from the coast and reintegrating them into operations, alongside elevating government support for the armed and security forces.

The cabinet confirmed that it reviewed a report from the minister of defense regarding the military situation across various fronts, operational readiness levels, and requirements, while underlining the need to boost the forces' capacity to confront the escalation and regain the initiative.

In Marib, Al-Aradah said that the governorate's forces are focused on victory and supporting various fronts, noting that the ultimate goal in the fighting, in Marib and elsewhere, remains the liberation of the capital, Sanaa, from the Houthis.

The forces and commanders on the ground bear a historic responsibility to defend the state and national dignity, he said.