Iran Slams Aden Attack, Blames ‘Foreign Aggression’

Date: 01 January 2021 - 21:58

News ID: ۸۶۱۱۷

TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iran on Thursday blamed foreign aggression and occupation for "instability” and "lawlessness” in Yemen after an attack hit the main airport in the country’s southern city of Aden.
At least 26 people were killed and dozens more injured in an attack on Aden airport on Wednesday after a plane carrying a self-proclaimed cabinet backed by Saudi Arabia landed from Riyadh.
Later in the day, a second attack targeted the Maasheq palace, where members of the "cabinet” had been taken to, according to residents and local media.
In a statement, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh denounced the attack and called on all sides involved in the Yemen war to return to political talks to end the conflict.
"The continuation of foreign aggression and occupation in Yemen has become a major cause of instability and lawlessness, endangering Yemen’s territorial integrity.
"This kind of violence and killing of civilians is the result of the view of the aggressors and occupiers of Yemen, who destroyed the whole of Yemen under a self-made coalition, and continued the most heinous humanitarian crisis in Yemen with a belligerent and divisionist view,” he said.
The Saudi-led coalition, which launched the devastating war on Yemen in 2015, accused the Houthi movement and targeted the capital, Sana’a, on Thursday in what they described as retaliation for the attacks.
Al-Masirah television said coalition planes hit at least 15 locations in different districts in the capital, which is held by the Houthis.
Airstrikes conducted by coalition warplanes on Yemen have killed thousands of Yemeni civilians, including women and children, since the beginning of the war.
Earlier this month, Yemeni officials said that "a child dies every 10 minutes” in Yemen due to the war.