Tehran Friday Prayers’ Leader:

Saudi Arabia to emerge loser from war on Yemen

Rasa – Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami says Saudi Arabia will definitely be defeated in Yemen as the Saudi regime steps up its strikes against the impoverished country.

News ID: 2320

Date: 10 April 2015 - 18:38

RNA – Addressing worshippers during weekly Friday Prayers in Tehran, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said Saudi Arabia “will doubtlessly emerge loser from this battlefield.”

He echoed a comparison by Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, that Yemen is smaller than the Gaza Strip and Saudi forces are weaker than the Israeli military that invaded the Gaza Strip last summer.

“The Zionists were defeated in Gaza and you (Saudis) will certainly be defeated in this country (Yemen),” Press TV quoted him.

He drew a parallel between the Saudi military campaign against Yemen and Israel’s aggression of Gaza last year, saying, “The Saudi war in Yemen is a proxy war. On behalf of the Zionists, Saudi Arabia is turning a Muslim country into ruins.”

Israel started its latest war on the Gaza Strip in early July last year. The offensive ended on August 26, 2014, with a truce that took effect after indirect negotiations in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

Nearly 2,200 Palestinians, including 577 children, were killed in Israel’s 50-day onslaught. Over 11,100 others - including 3,374 children, 2,088 women and 410 elderly people - were also injured.

Ayatollah Khatami further warned against increasing hatred towards Saudi monarchy even among Saudi supporters in Yemen and said killing people and committing crimes will not bring popularity.

He reiterated that Riyadh will not achieve its objectives in Sana’a and will rather serve the Zionists’ objective which is destruction of a Muslim country.

Saudi Arabia started its air campaign against Yemen on March 26 without a UN mandate in a bid to restore power to the country’s fugitive former president, Abd-Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.

Hundreds of people have so far been killed and thousands more wounded since the beginning of the Saudi aggression. Most victims of the raids are reported to be women and children.

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