SANA’A (Dispatches) – Thousands of people have taken to the streets in Yemen’s northwestern city of Sa’ada and other areas to denounce the Saudi-led coalition’s military aggression and brutal siege on the Arab country, warning of plots by the enemies to sow discord.
Demonstrators flocked from various districts of Sa’ada on Friday to condemn the U.S.-Saudi-Emirati blockade on Yemen under the slogan “the siege is war”.
They carried the Yemeni flag and pictures of the leader of the popular Ansarullah resistance movement, Abdul-Malik Badreddin al-Houthi.
They also chanted slogans against the U.S. hegemony, blaming the U.S.-Saudi aggression for the continuation of the siege.
Addressing the rallies, Sa’ada Governor Mohammed Jaber Awad said the protesters voiced their objection to the state of no war no peace as the Saudi-led aggression and the air and sea blockade on Yemen persist.
He added that the Armed Forces are determined not to allow “the continuation of the looting of our country’s oil and gas wealth.”
“Our people know who killed their sons and who practiced slow killing and besieged ports and airports,” Awad said.
The official emphasized that the blockade and the closure of airports and ports are more severe than war and bombs, expressing readiness for any decision which would be taken by leaders, including peace or war.
In a statement, the participants warned against the escalation of the aggression on any front, the continuation of the blockade and prevention of the entry of oil ships.
They also cautioned against the continuation of closing Yemen’s airports and ports and preventing Yemenis from their rights to obtain their salaries, calling on the Armed Forces to take an appropriate response to break the siege.
Saudi Arabia, in collaboration with its Arab allies and with arms and logistics support from the U.S. and other Western states, launched the devastating war on Yemen in March 2015.
The objective was to crush the Ansarullah resistance movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of a functional government in Yemen and reinstall the Riyadh-friendly regime of Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi.
While the Saudi-led coalition has failed to achieve any of its objectives, the war has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and spawned the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
In a report on Monday, a Yemeni rights group said more than 3,000 civilians, including women and children, were killed or injured in the airstrikes launched by the Saudi-led coalition against Yemen in the year 2022.
The ‘Eye Humanity Center for Rights and Development’ said the total number of casualties was 3,083 during last year’s war on Yemen, which included the death of 643 citizens and the wounding of 2,440 others.