US directing Saudi attacks on Yemen: Houthi leader

The leader of Yemen’s Houthi movement has condemned Saudi Arabia’s military aggression against Yemen, saying that the US is “sponsoring and directing” the attacks on the impoverished country.

 Abdul-Malik al-Houthi made the remarks in a televised address on Sunday in reaction to Saudi Arabia’s deadly attacks targeting Yemeni people across the country.

“The US is sponsoring the attacks. The US is directing the attacks against Yemen,” the Houthi leader said.

The US has authorized its “criminal hands” to kill people in Yemen, he added.

Al-Houthi described Saudi Arabia’s move to target the Yemeni people as “silly and unacceptable,” emphasizing that the aggressors, Saudi Arabia, the US and Israel, are killing innocent Yemeni people and are targeting Yemen’s infrastructure by destroying mosques, schools, markets, and other places.

The claims that the attacks are for the sake of the Yemeni people is silly and illogical, the Houthi leader said, adding that the attacks are a “justification” for killing innocent people.

The reason behind the aggression is that the US and the Israeli regime want such attacks, he added.

It has been revealed that the Americans choose the targets for the Saudi regime to destroy, he said, noting, “Israel supports the aggression and is happy with the aggression.”

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

According to reports, some 2,600 people, including women and children, have so far lost their lives in the attacks.

Israel and America are the main beneficiaries of the Saudi aggression against Yemen, he added.

The claim that the Saudi aggression aims to protect the Two Holy Mosques in Saudi Arabia is an insult to Islam, the Houthi leader added, emphasizing that Israel itself is the only threat to holy shrines.

The aggressors claim that they plan to “restore Yemen to its Arab identity,” he said, asking “what kind of Arab identity is this?”

The Saudi aggression targets all resources in Yemen, which is a criminal act and lacks legitimacy, he stressed, saying that the aim of the attacks is to “return Yemen to the Israeli and US identity.”

All who support the aggression in any possible way are participating in the bloodshed by Saudi Arabia, he stressed.

Israel views the attacks as a protection for itself and those who support the aggression are actually committing a crime and are supporting Israel, al-Houthi added.

“The goal of Saudi Arabia is to enable al-Qaeda to seize control of Yemen,” the Houthi leader explained, adding that the second goal of the aggression is to humiliate the Yemeni people.

Describing the aggressors as “greedy,” al-Houthi added that all the evil and all problems in the region originate from the Saudi regime.

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is a council supporting hegemony and defending superpowers, he said.

Last Tuesday, the UNSC passed a resolution, imposing an arms embargo against the Houthi revolutionaries. It also imposed asset freezes and travel bans against al-Houthi.

“We do not need permission from the UNSC” to defend our country, al-Houthi said, stressing, “The Yemeni people have the right and legitimacy to defend” their land.

“Our great people will not surrender, they will stand,” the Houthi leader said.

It is the right of the Yemeni people to counter the aggression in all possible ways, al-Houthi added, calling on the Yemeni parties to put aside difference and become united through cooperation.

Those who cooperate with the aggressors are the losers and are actually betraying themselves, the Houthi leader added.

IA/HJL/SS

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