Yemenis hold mass rallies to condemn Saudi crimes as war enters 5th year

Millions of Yemenis have taken to the streets of the capital, Sana’a, and other major cities to mark the fourth anniversary of the Saudi regime’s devastating war against the Arab country and reiterate their steadfastness in the face of the ongoing aggression.

Many provinces and cities, including Sana’a, Sa’ada, Ta’izz, Ibb, Bayda and Raymah, have been witnessing mass rallies since Monday, Yemen's al-Masirah television network reported.

However, the protests reached their peak on Tuesday, March 26, the anniversary of the day the Saudi regime and a coalition of its vassal states launched the US-backed military campaign against Yemen in 2015 to reinstate the ex-Yemeni government – a close Riyadh ally – and destroy the popular Houthi Ansarullah movement.

The demonstrators carried placards and Yemeni national flags, chanting slogans against Saudi Arabia, Israel and the US, which has been providing military support to the Saudi-led coalition in the course of the war.

The offensive initially consisted of a bombing campaign, but was later coupled with a naval blockade and the deployment of ground forces into Yemen.

‘Yemen to eventually defeat enemy’

Yemen’s Grand Mufti was among the keynote speakers at the rally in Sana’a, where he called on the Arab country’s religious scholars as well as the Muslim world not to remain silent in the face of the crimes the Al Saud regime and its allies have been committing against Yemenis.

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the chairman of the Supreme Revolutionary Committee of Yemen, also delivered a speech during which he said, “The Yemeni nation will continue fighting to the end and [we] will never give in. We will finally defeat the enemy.”

He further condemned US President Donald Trump’s decision on Monday to formally recognize Syria’s occupied Golan Heights as part of the “Israeli territory.”  

Delivering a televised speech broadcast live on Monday evening, Leader of Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said the Saudi regime has failed to achieve its objectives despite enjoying support from Washington and its other allies. 

PressTV-Saudi war has failed despite US support: Yemen's Houthi

Riyadh and its allies seek to loot Yemen's oil resources, Houthi said.

He said Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- a key member of the Riyadh-led alliance -- are today facing economic challenges because of the protracted war, even though the Saudi regime had predicted victory within a few months.

Referring to the former Saudi-backed president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, the Houthi leader said no one has the right to sell his country and to waste the blood of his people.

Hadi resigned shortly before the war and fled to the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

The Houthi movement has been both running state affairs from Sana’a and leading Yemeni armed forces in counter-operations against the Saudi-led aggressors.

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 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.

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