Above Photo: Tens of thousands of supporters of Yemen’s Houthi rebel movement gather in the capital Sana’a to mark the third anniversary of the rebel uprising. | Photo: AFP
Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis have converged in Sana’a to mark the third anniversary of the Sept. 21 Ansarullah uprising against foreign attacks. Demonstrators condemned the ongoing Saudi-led war against their nation and expressed support for Ansarullah fighters and other groups defending their nation, according to PressTV.
A convoy of United Arab Emirates, UAE, troops detained by Yemeni forces were paraded before the crowd during the mass rally. Their military equipment had been utilized by soldiers and militias fighting on behalf of Saudi Arabia.
Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, leader of the Ansarullah movement, sharply criticized Saudi Arabia’s war of aggression against his country during a televised speech on al-Masirah TV. He also warned his compatriots that Yemen’s enemies, including Saudi Arabia’s war sponsors — the United States, Britain and Israel — intend to foster rifts and divisions within the nation in order to win the war.
In early June, the U.S. Department of Defense confirmed a US$750 million military sale to Saudi Arabia. It included U.S. made missiles, bombs, armored personnel carriers, warships, munitions and a “blanket order training program” for Saudi security forces receiving the military equipment both inside and outside of the kingdom, according to Reuters.
In July, the British High Court ruled that the government is not breaking the law by continuing to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia. This contradicted claims made in 2016 by independent observers and U.N. officials that large numbers of civilians are being killed as a result of Saudi Arabia’s military campaign against Yemen.
Since bombings began in 2015, the United Kingdom has licensed roughly US$4.2 billion dollars in weapons to Saudi Arabia, PressTV reported.
Amid the bombing and devastation, the country also faces a severe cholera outbreak that has killed at least 1,828 people since April. Over 12,000 people have been killed, thousands have been displaced and more than a million have been forced to flee their homes nationwide, according to the United Nations.
Saudi Arabia’s military campaign, which started over two and a half years ago, has resulted in the death of more than 12,000 people. Civilian targets air-bombed during the war have included hospitals, schools, factories and funeral homes.
Wolfgang Jamann, head of the Cooperative for Assistance and Relief, a non-governmental humanitarian agency, said that the current crisis in Yemen is an absolute “shame on humanity.”