News / Politics

Iran censures Saudi carnage of civilians in western Yemen

Friday, 23 September 2016 3:25 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 23 September 2016 5:07 PM ]

Yemenis gather on September 22, 2016 amidst the rubble of buildings destroyed in Saudi airstrikes in the western port city of Hudaydah the previous day. (Photo by AFP)

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi has strongly condemned the Saudi airstrike in Yemen’s western and coastal province of Hudaydah, which claimed the lives of over 30 civilians and left tens of others injured.

“Unfortunately, the indifference of countries and international bodies, coupled with the continued sale of various kinds of arms and military equipment to Saudi Arabia, has made the regime more brazen in escalating its attacks on the oppressed and defenseless people of Yemen,” Qassemi said late on Thursday.

He added, “The telling silence of certain Western countries vis-a-vis the slaughter of innocent people and continued sale of destructive weapons will doubtlessly make them more obnoxious in the eyes of the world public opinion, and present them as the accomplices of the child-killer regime.”

Saudi warplanes struck Souq al-Hanoud area in the al-Hawak district of Yemen’s Hudaydah province late on Wednesday. At least 32 civilians were killed and scores more injured in the attack.

Early on Thursday, Saudi fighter jets bombarded a residential building in the Razih district of Yemen’s mountainous northwestern province of Sa’ada, located about 240 kilometers north of the capital Sana'a, leaving nine people dead. Another six civilians sustained injuries in the attack.

An informed source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the deceased were seven children and two pregnant women.

Later in the day, Saudi aircraft pounded al-Hadab village in the Sirwah district of Yemen's central province of Ma'rib, but no immediate reports about the possible casualties and the extent of damage caused were available.

Saudi Arabia has been incessantly pounding Yemen since March 2015, with the UN putting the death toll from the military aggression at about 10,000. The offensive was launched to reinstate Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a Saudi ally who has resigned as Yemen’s president.

UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen Jamie McGoldrick said last month that the death toll from the Saudi military aggression could rise even further as some areas had no medical facilities, and that people were often buried without any official record being made.

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