An airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition hit a school bus in the Dahyan market in Saada province on Thursday, killing at least 44 Yemeni students and wounding 77.
This Saudi war crime has been denounced. Hezbollah Thursday issued a statement saying that the “continuous US-Saudi brutal massacres committed against the civilians in Yemen” marks the failure of the Saudi coalition. It is “the worst form of violence and terror and hides the failure of the war on Yemen.”
Meanwhile, Syria also issued a scathing condemnation of the massacre where almost all of the victims were children.
Yemen's Defense Ministry responded to the latest Saudi offense in attacking the Yemeni school bus, condemning the attack. The Defense Ministry has also announced that its forces will respond to this crime at the time and place of its choosing.
Adding insult to injury, Colonel Turki al-Malki, a Spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, stressed that Thursday's attack carried out in Saada is a “legitimate military action” and is “in accordance with international humanitarian law and customs.” Nothing could be further from the truth.
He said the attack was in response to the Houthis missile strike in Jaizan, Saudi Arabia. However, attacking civilians is illegal and goes against international laws.
At a time when the main body of the International Human Rights Defender, the United Nations, fears the loss of Saudi funding, it remove the name of the Saudi regime from the blacklist of countries that violate Yemeni children's rights, it is quite natural that the Riyadh authorities in the shadow of such a great achievement in the international arena, they will compete in child killing with their Jewish brethren.
The UN Secretary-General Antَnio Guterres, called for a “credible” investigation Friday but failed to condemn the horrific crime against Yemeni children in Saada. This is unfortunate because to the extent the UN fails to act decisively, this will only encourage war criminals who think they can act with impunity and may only encourage more such horrible actions against civilians. The UN seems to have become ineffective whenever it is challenged by a potential withdrawal of member funding.
In any case, Saudi Arabia has pushed the scope of the war by bombing school children as brazenly as the Zionists have shot children in the Gaza Strip and wiped out entire families with bombing and artillery.
One of the main reasons for Saudi Arabia turning to the brutal and unjustified killing of innocent Yemeni children has apparently been the Saudi failure to achieve its goals in Yemen over the past three years. Saudi Arabia has been plunged into the swamp of the Yemeni war for three years. It thought it could end the war quickly in less than a month with a victory, but nothing of the sort has occurred. This failure has remained a big blow to the Saudi coalition.
The Saudi coalition has also of late failed to occupy the strategic port of al-Hudaydah because of the strength of the Yemeni resistance. In addition, the Saudis have apparently been trying to enlist support for its war effort from al-Qaeda members in Yemen, offering the terror group money.
This further depravity of seeking help from known terrorist organizations may have encouraged war crimes such as the bombing of the school bus. Mohammed bin Salman and Mohammed bin Zayed are playing a dangerous game. World public opinion is certainly not going to shift in favor of the Saudi coalition and its aggressive actions in Yemen.
MNA/TT