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News > World

Hundreds of Thousands of Yemenis Protest US-Backed, Saudi-Led Invasion on 2nd Anniversary

  • Supporters of the Houthi movement and Yemen's former president Ali Abdullah Saleh attend a rally to mark two years of the military intervention by the Saudi-led coalition, in Sanaa, Yemen, March 26, 2017.

    Supporters of the Houthi movement and Yemen's former president Ali Abdullah Saleh attend a rally to mark two years of the military intervention by the Saudi-led coalition, in Sanaa, Yemen, March 26, 2017. | Photo: Reuters

Published 26 March 2017
Opinion

“There is a disaster in Yemen and Saudi Arabia will not stop destroying our country,” said Ahmed Al Moaiad, a Yemeni activist.

Marking two years since the beginning of the U.S.-backed and Saudi-led invasion of Yemen, hundreds of thousands of people poured into the streets of the capital of Sanaa to protest the brutality of the bombing campaign.

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The conflict began in March 2015 in efforts to reinstall toppled President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi and to suppress the Shiites armed militias that oppose the Saudi-backed former leader.

On Friday, the United Nations human rights office said an average of 100 civilians a month are dying in Yemen's war, most killed by the Saudi-led coalition's airstrikes and shelling.

In a statement marking the second anniversary on Sunday, the U.N. reported it had confirmed 4,773 civilians killed and 8,272 injured in the conflict pitting Houthi rebels against the ousted Yemeni government.

The Saudi-led coalition justifies its attacks on Yemen by claiming Houthi rebels are “supporting terrorism,” allegedly sponsored by Iran.

RELATED: 
100 Civilians Killed a Month in Yemen War, Most by Coalition: UN

Houthi rebels, however, claim the Saudis are attacking because of the Shiite movement’s growing political influence in the region. Saudi Arabia, a country governed by radical Wahhabi Sunnis, has been at odds with Shiites and Iran for decades.

“All the Western countries know that Saudi Arabia is the main source of the extremist religious ideas in the world,” Ahmed Al Moaiad, a London-based Yemeni activist recently told teleSUR.

“The same books used to teach ISIS villages in Aleppo and Raqqa are the same books they are teaching everyday in Saudi Arabia in the schools and universities," he continued.

“There is a disaster in Yemen and Saudi Arabia will not stop destroying our country,” he added.

“That’s why the Yemeni people have to resist this invasion.”

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