Trump keeps backing Saudi despite Yemen atrocities

The administration of US President Donald Trump has been adamant in supporting Saudi Arabia despite the regime’s ongoing military aggression against Yemen, an unprovoked war that has killed thousands of civilians and decimated the infrastructure of an already poor nation.

Earlier this week, as the months-long offensive by Saudis and their regional allies to capture Yemen’s important port city of al-Hudaydah continued, Saudi commanders announced Wednesday that they had been able to block two key supply routes into the city, The Washington Post reported.

This was not good news for millions of Yemeni people facing famine and a deadly cholera epidemic, as the city acts as a gateway for 70 percent of the supplies of food and medicine entering the conflict-ridden country.

This is while the Saudi-led coalition has had the port city under aerial and maritime blockade since the beginning of the war in March 2015.

Despite all this, however, the Trump administration certified to Congress on Tuesday that the Saudis and their allies were “making every effort to reduce the risk of civilian casualties.”

The official notice was required for the Pentagon to be allowed to continue delivering weapons and intelligence to Riyadh despite the international view that civilians have now become the main target of the war.

Saudi Arabia and its regional allies launched the devastating military campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the aim of reinstating former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and crushing the Houthi Ansarullah Movement.

Some 15,000 Yemenis have been killed and thousands more injured since the start of the Saudi-led aggression.

More than 2,200 others have died of cholera, and the crisis has triggered what the United Nations has described as the world's worst humanitarian disaster.

The Saudi-led offensive to wrest control of Hudaydah began in June, with the aim of stopping continued missile strikes by Yemen's army and the Houthis.

The Saudis insist that the only way to stop what they call a flow of arms and missile parts to the group is by taking the whole city under control.

PressTV-Houthi: Saudis plan attack on Hudaydah food store

Saudi Arabia is planning to strike food storage facilities across Hudayda as it resumes its deadly push to seize the important Yemen port city, a top Houthi official has warned.

However, the offensive has been far from successful. In fact, the extent of civilian casualties has put the coalition under growing international pressure to end the onslaught.

The certification came after some congressmen started asking question about Washington’s role in the war following a series of Saudi attacks that a UN panel of experts says may amount to war crimes.

On August 9, Saudi aircraft targeted a school bus packed with young boys in the Sa’ada province, killing at least 51, including 40 children.

CNN later reported that the bomb that destroyed the bus had been supplied by the United States, which also provides mid-air refueling support to Saudi-led fighter jets.

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