Thousands of people took to the streets in Yemen’s northwestern Saada province on Tuesday to mark the seventh anniversary of the September 21 revolution against a Saudi-backed regime in Sana’a.
Local media reports said participants in the rally chanted vociferous slogans against foreign aggression while carrying the country’s tricolor flag and pictures of top resistance leaders.
They also denounced the criminal complicity of Western powers and the Israeli regime in the Saudi-backed aggression in war-ravaged Yemen.
Hailing what they called the “revolution of the free,” the demonstrators vowed to uphold their revolutionary ideals and not surrender to the foreign powers. They said the popular revolution had thwarted the conspiracy to divide Yemen through resistance to foreign aggression and hegemony.
In 2014, the people of Yemen led a popular uprising against the Saudi-backed unpopular regime of Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. As protests gripped the country, the Ansarallah resistance movement on Sept. 21 took control of the capital Sana’a following a rapid advance south from their northern stronghold of Saada.
The massively popular protests were against the incompetent and corrupt regime in Sana’a backed by Riyadh. In a bid to crush the resistance and reinstall the Hadi regime, a Saudi-led coalition launched a ferocious bombing campaign on the neighboring Arab country barely six months later.
Resistance will continue
The people of Yemen commemorate the day every year and reaffirm their commitment to the fight against the Saudi-led foreign aggression that has spawned what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Speaking at the rally in Saada on Tuesday, the governor of Saada Mohammad Jaber Awad felicitated people on the anniversary of the popular revolution and emphasized the need to continue resistance until the country is fully liberated from the shackles of foreign aggressors.
People from different walks of life participated in Tuesday’s rally in the hilly province. They commended the role of the revolutionary leadership and the support of the tribes, while stressing the need to preserve the revolutionary spirit and faith in order to confront the aggressors and attain full liberation.
The demonstrators also hailed the successful military operations of the Yemeni army and the allied popular committees against the Saudi-backed mercenaries, which have led to significant territorial gains in recent months.
Meanwhile, a large demonstration was also held in the Yemeni capital Sana'a to mark the seventh anniversary of the September 21 evolution.
The organizers of the protest in a statement said that “celebrations of the September 21 revolution, which rescued the Yemeni people from the clutches of foreign meddling, will be held in various provinces."
"September 21 revolution, which served as a motivator for the Yemeni people to oppose the aggression, is an authentic Yemeni movement funded by the Yemeni people and not by any foreign country," the statement said.
US hand in Saudi-led crimes
In a televised speech on Monday, the leader of Yemen’s Ansarallah resistance movement said the US was in charge of administering his country’s internal affairs prior to the revolution.
Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said the foreign patronship of the unpopular Hadi regime had led to the collapse and complete occupation of the Arab country.
“The revolution is a great achievement and it is still going on...There used to be foreign guardianship in Yemen before the revolution, and former political factions had no intentions whatsoever to gain the independence and freedom of the Yemeni nation,” al-Houthi asserted.
He said Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were just “pawns” in the hands of the United States, referring to them as “cows being milked” by Washington to serve the Israeli regime’s interests.
He further said that Yemen’s national salvation government is working to reform state institutions in the war-ravaged Arab country, and is keen to forge friendly relations with all neighboring countries and the international community.
Protracted war
The six-year conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, according to relief agencies.
The Saudi-led military coalition was backed by the United States, the United Kingdom and other Western powers.
Multiple UN-brokered talks between the two sides over the years failed to produce a breakthrough as Saudi-backed foreign mercenaries continued to inflict harm on the people of Yemen.
The UN children’s agency UNICEF describes the conflict as “a living hell” for children, with 1.8 million under-fives suffering severe malnutrition.
While Saudi-led allies have lost much of the territory they had occupied following the 2015 invasion, Yemeni armed forces and the allied popular committees have grown in strength.
Faced with an imminent defeat against a formidable opponent, Saudi Arabia has recently been looking for an escape route from the crisis they manufactured themselves.