UN Chief Slams Deadly Saudi Airstrike on Yemeni Wedding
NEW YORK (Dispatches) – The UN Secretary General has strongly decried Saudi Arabia's deadly airstrike on a wedding ceremony in Yemen's Hajjah province.
"The Secretary General reminds all parties of their obligations under international humanitarian law concerning the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure during armed conflicts. He calls for a prompt, effective and transparent investigation,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
On Sunday, a wedding ceremony in Yemen's was targeted by Saudi airstrikes in which almost 50 people were killed and 55 others injured.
Saudi jets also carried out raids on ambulances transporting the casualties to local hospitals.
The head of al-Jumhouri hospital in Hajjah province told Reuters by telephone that the hospital had received dozens of bodies, most of them torn to pieces, and that 46 people had been injured, including 30 children, in airstrikes that hit a wedding gathering.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi also slammed the attack as a violent and inhumane move by the Saudis.
He added that Saudi Arabia's recent increase on attacks on innocent civilians is a sign that they have been unsuccessful in obtaining their goals in the war-torn country.
While offering condolences to the families of the victims, Qassemi said that "the increase of bombing raids on residential areas is a sign of frustration and failure of those attacking Yemen," he added.
The Saudi aggression was launched in March 2015 in support of Yemen’s former Riyadh-friendly government of president Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and against the country’s Houthi Ansarullah movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of an effective administration.
The offensive has, however, achieved neither of its goals despite the spending of billions of petrodollars and the enlisting of Saudi Arabia's regional and Western allies.
The Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights announced in a statement on March 25 that the Saudi-led war had left 600,000 civilians dead and injured since March 2015.
Yemenis check the damage in a power station in the aftermath of an air strike by the Saudi-led coalition in the Yemeni capital Sana'a on April 20, 2018.
"The Secretary General reminds all parties of their obligations under international humanitarian law concerning the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure during armed conflicts. He calls for a prompt, effective and transparent investigation,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
On Sunday, a wedding ceremony in Yemen's was targeted by Saudi airstrikes in which almost 50 people were killed and 55 others injured.
Saudi jets also carried out raids on ambulances transporting the casualties to local hospitals.
The head of al-Jumhouri hospital in Hajjah province told Reuters by telephone that the hospital had received dozens of bodies, most of them torn to pieces, and that 46 people had been injured, including 30 children, in airstrikes that hit a wedding gathering.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi also slammed the attack as a violent and inhumane move by the Saudis.
He added that Saudi Arabia's recent increase on attacks on innocent civilians is a sign that they have been unsuccessful in obtaining their goals in the war-torn country.
While offering condolences to the families of the victims, Qassemi said that "the increase of bombing raids on residential areas is a sign of frustration and failure of those attacking Yemen," he added.
The Saudi aggression was launched in March 2015 in support of Yemen’s former Riyadh-friendly government of president Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and against the country’s Houthi Ansarullah movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of an effective administration.
The offensive has, however, achieved neither of its goals despite the spending of billions of petrodollars and the enlisting of Saudi Arabia's regional and Western allies.
The Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights announced in a statement on March 25 that the Saudi-led war had left 600,000 civilians dead and injured since March 2015.
Yemenis check the damage in a power station in the aftermath of an air strike by the Saudi-led coalition in the Yemeni capital Sana'a on April 20, 2018.