Iraqi protesters rally to denounce Saudi-led aggression on crisis-hit Yemen

Rasa - Thousands of people have taken to the streets in the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad to express outrage over the Saudi-led aerial bombardment campaign against Yemen, which has killed thousands of innocent civilians and reduced much of the Arab country's critical infrastructure to rubble.

News ID: 441823

Date: 01 December 2018 - 10:04

RNA - Iraqi protesters, carrying Iraqi and Yemeni flags as well as banners in condemnation of the Saudi-led aggression, converged in the al-Jadriya neighborhood following Friday prayers.

They chanted slogans and censured Saudi-led war crimes against the Yemeni nation during the demonstration, which had been organized by religious scholars as well as social media activists and dubbed as “We Stand With You.”

The demonstrators condemned the continuation of the Saudi-led aggression on Yemen, and deplored the international silence on the tragic humanitarian situation there.

Mohammad al-Qabali, a representative of Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement, said the Saudi-led military alliance has unleashed a relentless onslaught against Yemen aimed at starving ordinary people to death and destroying the country.

He added that more than two million Yemeni children are suffering from acute malnutrition, warning that al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and Daesh Takfiri terrorist group are acting freely in areas seized by the Saudi-led coalition.

Jaafar al-Husseini, a spokesman for the Iraqi pro-government Kata'ib Hezbollah voluntary forces, demanded the immediate intervention of international organizations to end the Saudi-led military aggression on Yemen.

According to Press TV, Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating military campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the aim of bringing the government of former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing the country’s Houthi Ansarullah movement.

According to a new report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, the Saudi-led war has so far claimed the lives of around 56,000 Yemenis.

The Saudi-led war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN has already said that a record 22.2 million Yemenis are in dire need of food, including 8.4 million threatened by severe hunger. According to the world body, Yemen is suffering from the most severe famine in more than 100 years.

A number of Western countries, the US and Britain in particular, are also accused of being complicit in the ongoing aggression as they supply the Riyadh regime with advanced weapons and military equipment as well as logistical and intelligence assistance.

847/940