Story of endless suffering in Yemen

January 20, 2018 - 9:48

Nearly 3 years have passed since the Saudi invasions of the defenseless people of Yemen. This is while the war crimes committed in this country are barely seen elsewhere throughout history.

On March 25, 2015, Saudi Arabia, with the cooperation of a number of regional allies, began a clear military invasion against the innocent Yemenis.
The Saudis along with their regional allies made this blatant aggression against Yemen under the pretext of ‘restoring legitimacy’ and targeted Yemeni civilians and the country’s infrastructure in the first hours of the military attack. 

Many hospitals, schools, universities, shopping malls, even beaches, agricultural fields, fishing boat - many of which are sources of livelihood for people - bridges, strategic communication centers, power plants, water supplies, and others have become targeted by their heavy attacks.

The aggressive fighters of the Arab-led coalition, steered by Saudi Arabia, began their hostile military operations against the Yemenis. In the attacks, civilians were reportedly targeted directly, while the world kept silent. 

Although Saudi officials have claimed that these attacks targeted only military sites, all the evidence, including the high number of civilian deaths, proves the contrary.

On the other hand, damages to residential areas, available on thousands of video files, are yet another proof of the Saudi outright lies in targeting sheer military sites.
This is despite the fact that international laws all emphasize the need to avoid targeting civilians and the infrastructure of countries in the event of a war. The Saudis' attacks on the Yemeni infrastructure have caused so many problems for the people of the country and have prevented them from dealing with their ordinary affairs and continuing their daily lives.

The use of international ‘prohibited weapons’ is one of the other crimes committed by Saudi Arabia and its supporters over the past three years against the defenseless Yemeni people. 

From the very early days of the attacks on Yemen, intruders exploited various types of weapons of mass destruction, most importantly ‘cluster bombs’.
Many international human rights organizations have confirmed the usage of weapons of mass destruction by the Saudis and their allies particularly cluster bombs.
In this regard, Amnesty International on October 30, 2015, explicitly reported that Saudi aggressors used the banned cluster bombs in residential areas in Yemen. Since that date, Amnesty International has also published numerous reports on the use of banned weapons by Riyadh against Sana'a.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Human Rights Watch has also released reports on violation of humanitarian law by the Saudis in Yemen. According to these international human rights organizations and institutions, the prohibited weapons that the Saudis use against the Yemeni people will have devastating and long-term effects on the country and its future generations. Currently, many children born in Yemen have been affected by these weapons, and as a result, they are faced with disabilities and other severe physical problems.

These aggressive attacks have brought about humanitarian crisis in Yemen, and consequently many international organizations have voiced objections to the deteriorating conditions of the state. In this regard, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has said that 22.2 million Yemeni people (76 percent of the population) need humanitarian aid, and that figure has risen by 1.5 million over the past six months.

The risk of hunger is increasing in the country, 8.4 million people are suffering from starvation, up from 6.8 million last year. The United Nations has announced that hunger accounts for more than half of the country's provinces, with 72 out of 95 areas more exposed to hunger. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs also reported that more than 1,500 schools in Yemen were partially or completely destroyed.

However, the crimes of the Saudis and their allies, including the United Arab Emirates, have been surpassed by the media outlets. Many reports indicate the UAE maintains a network of secret prisons in the southern provinces of Yemen, especially in Aden, where Yemeni revolutionaries are being brutally tortured. 

The report published by the Associated Press on June 23 documented the existence of at least 18 secret prisons in southern Yemen which are run by the United Arab Emirates and by Yemeni forces it created. These prisons are located in military bases, ports, some airports and villas, and even night clubs.

The UAE also operates at least two ‘illegal detention facilities’ in Yemen, and reports indicate that detainees have been transferred to a base in Eritrea. Earlier, Senior U.S. Defense Forces confirmed that U.S. forces have participated in interrogations of detainees in Yemen, but have not accepted any interference in the violation of human rights.

So far, more than 400 people have disappeared in these prisons. It has been reported that numerous torture methods have been employed in these prisons, including the terrible torture technique of the “furnace”, in which the victim is locked up and thrown around a circle of fire.

These disasters are happening while the international community expects the Yemeni army and committees to refrain from defensive and deterrent actions against the Saudis.

In line with that, Sadegh Al-Sharafi, a member of Ansarallah movement told Mehr news agency, “Why should stop the attacks against the Saudis? The perpetrators know that today there is decisive determination to confront their military aggression in Yemen. From now on, the Yemeni missile attacks will continue. The missiles will be fired from now on and may even target the residence of princes in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.”

The Yemeni official continued to say: “If the Saudis and the aggressors were able to stop the rocket attacks of the Yemeni forces, they would have done it in the first days or months of the attack. Thus, Yemeni missile attacks continue to target the Saudi and Emirati sites.”

“We say to them that they should stop trying to halt the Yemeni incursions.” The remarks came after Saudi Arabia demanded that the Yemeni people should surrender.

In any case, Yemen is faced with a full-blown human disaster today.

So far, more than 13,000 civilians have been martyred in Yemen, and thousands more have sustained severe injuries. Many residential areas and infrastructure in Yemen have been destroyed.

The number of cholera victims in the country has exceeded 2,000 and now about hundreds more are at risk of being infected with the continuing suicide attacks.
Millions of Yemenis are displaced and many more are in need of food and medical care.

Undoubtedly, the silence of the international community against these human disasters, which are less common in the history of mankind, will be another scum on their foreheads.