Anger Boils in Yemen as Saudi Killing Intensifies

Date: 24 January 2022 - 21:54

News ID: ۹۹۲۶۸

SANAA (Dispatches) --
Yemeni civilians have said they are sad, angry and fed up with the escalation in violence in their war-torn country over the last week, after the Saudi-led coalition carried out some of their most deadly airstrikes.
Reacting to the coalition’s January 21 bombing of a prison for migrants in Sa’da province, which left over 100 dead, Ahmed Maran, a local resident, told Middle East Eye: “The Saudis don’t feel shame at all and they are killing civilians everywhere around the country.
“I saw the impact of the airstrikes on the prison and it was completely damaged and the victims are civilians and guards so what’s the purpose of such attack?” Maran asked.
On Friday, thousands of Yemenis staged demonstrations in the capital Sana’a and other cities to condemn the bombings of Sa’da and Hudaydah.
The Saudi-led coalition, which includes the UAE, has launched heavy attacks on Sanaa and other areas in Yemen. The airstrikes have killed well over a hundred civilians.
On the night of January 17, a Saudi-led aerial attack hit a house in a residential area in the Yemeni capital, and more than 20 civilians were killed, including women and children.
A few days later, the Sa’da prison bombing left more than 100 dead, making it one of the deadliest single attacks since the Saudi war on Yemen began in 2015.
Although the Saudi-led coalition denied targeting the prison, residents in Sa’da confirmed hearing fighter jets overhead, followed by three explosions. Yemeni airspace is controlled by the Saudi coalition.
“No place is safe in Sa’da or Yemen as the aggression of the coalition can target any place and no one can stop them or demand the rights of civilians,” Maran said. “The aggression is shedding our blood every day and everywhere, and the world is silent.”
Maran said the world did not care about Yemen, and that all the United Nations did was form an investigation committee and then forget about it. He accused the UN of holding a biased position on Yemen.
“I can say that targeting the prison left sadness in thousands of families in Sa’da and in Africa, as migrants were among the casualties and they were killed for nothing,” he said. “I hope that the UN come to share the sadness of those families and feel their suffering when they lose their loved ones.”
Some international organizations have criticized the targeting of the prison and of civilians across the country.
“This is the latest in a long line of unjustifiable airstrikes carried out by the Saudi-led coalition on places like schools, hospitals, markets, wedding parties and prisons,” said Ahmed Mahat, head of the Yemen mission for Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
“Since the beginning of the war we have frequently witnessed the terrible effects of indiscriminate coalition bombing on Yemen, including when our own hospitals have been attacked.
“In recent days we have witnessed a worrying escalation in the war in Yemen, with many airstrikes on Sanaa throughout the week, which have continued this morning,” added Mahat.
Aid agencies said the escalation came after the UN Human
Rights Council voted to end the mandate of the Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen, the only international and independent body tasked with investigating the full extent of violations in the Saudi war.
Yemenis all over the country expressed their anger at the killing of civilians, regardless of the targeted areas and the nationality of victims, either those from Yemen or migrants from the Horn of Africa.
“We are human beings and we feel with each other so I’m sad about each drop of blood shed in Yemen, either of Yemenis or Ethiopians who came to Yemen seeking work,” Noaman Shamsan, a resident in Sanaa told MEE.