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Yemen calls on UN Security Council to hold Saudi Arabia, its arms suppliers to account for devastating war

Yemenis inspect a crater following a Saudi airstrike targeting a road at al-Sabeen Square in the Yemeni capital Sana’a on December 23, 2021. (Photo by AFP)

Yemeni Foreign Minister in the National Salvation Government Hisham Sharaf Abdullah has called upon the UN Security Council to hold Saudi Arabia and its arms suppliers to account in accordance with the international law over their war crimes in the crisis-stricken Arab country.

Abdullah, in identical letters addressed to the rotating president of the Security Council Abdou Abarry and members of the UN body, asked them to expose the groundless nature of allegations at the center of the Saudi letter to the Council on December 28.

Earlier, in a letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the president of the Security Council, the permanent representative of Saudi Arabia to the UN, Abdallah al-Mouallimi, had asked the world body to hold Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah movement accountable for their retaliatory attacks on Saudi targets, claiming that those attacks endangered peace. 

In reaction, the Yemeni foreign minister urged the Security Council to assume its responsibilities with regards to international peace and security, particularly in the Arabian Peninsula and the Persian Gulf region, and to take measures that would stop Saudi Arabia’s constant threats and indiscriminate bombardment of civilian facilities, and protect the Yemeni nation against terrorism and crimes being perpetrated by the Riyadh regime and its allies.

Abdullah stressed that Saudi Arabia is seeking to portray itself as a victim in order to evoke the international community’s sympathy, and escape global condemnation over flagrant violation of the international law.

The Yemeni foreign minister highlighted that incontrovertible and straightforward facts about the Saudi-led war on Yemen cannot be denied.

“It was Saudi Arabia that launched this barbaric military aggression and took the entire Yemeni territories under attack with the most sophisticated rockets and missiles as well as internationally banned chemical weapons,” Abdullah pointed out.

“It is fairly bizarre that the Security Council and the international community keep mum and do not condemn the crimes being committed on a daily basis by the Saudi-led coalition of aggression, but rush to cry foul when Sana’a exercises its right of self-defense under the international law and the Charter of the United Nations and targets Saudi military sites and strategic facilities with its domestically-developed armament,” the letter read.

“Saudi Arabia is either working directly or through its allied Takfiri terrorist groups to put obstacles in the way of Yemen peace, and is pressing for the settlement of Yemen conflict according to its own interests. All this happen while the kingdom is not taking into account the humanitarian catastrophe which it has caused in Yemen,” Abdullah underscored.

The top Yemeni diplomat went on to say that the Salvation Government and all Sana’a-based political factions reject all attempts aimed at Saudi hegemony over Yemen, but welcome just and honorable peace for the entire Yemeni nation.

He called on Saudi Arabia and its allies to review their positions and rectify their miscalculations, emphasizing that Riyadh should realize that a comprehensive political solution to Yemen's crisis is the key to normalcy of life in Yemen and establishment of good neighborly relations.

The Yemeni foreign minister also underlined the need for goodwill and urgent measures in order to pave the way for political peace negotiations and stop the Saudi-led war on Yemen.

He said practical steps must be taken in order to ensure full withdrawal of foreign forces from Yemeni territories, reopen Sana'a International Airport to commercial and civil flights, facilitate the entry of ships loaded with oil derivatives, natural gas and commercial goods to the port of Hudaydah, and resolve a series of problems that have held up salaries for public sector workers.

Abdullah finally called on the Security Council to adopt a clear stance towards Yemen peace by adoption of a binding resolution, and demanded an end to the brutal Saudi-led aggression and siege.

Saudi Arabia, backed by the United States and regional allies, launched the war on Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing the popular Ansarullah resistance movement.

The war has left hundreds of thousands of Yemenis dead, and displaced millions more. It has also destroyed Yemen’s infrastructure and spread famine and infectious diseases there.

Despite heavily-armed Saudi Arabia’s incessant bombardment of the impoverished country, the Yemeni armed forces and the Popular Committees have grown steadily in strength against the Saudi-led invaders and left Riyadh and its allies bogged down in the country.


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