New York, Oct. 16 -- India on Thursday (local time) strongly condemned attacks on maritime navigation and commercial shipping amid the wider escalating conflict in West Asia, reiterating that such strikes are "legally and morally indefensible" and calling for the protection of seafarers, including Indian nationals.

India also underlined the international responsibility to safeguard the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Southern Red Sea amid the conflict in Yemen, involving the Houthis and its internationally recognised government and Saudi Arabia.

Addressing the United Nations Security Council's quarterly open debate on the situation in the Middle East, India's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni, reaffirmed Ne...