Countries arming Saudi Arabia, partners in crimes against Yemenis: Iran

As Reported by Qods News Agency (Qodsna) "Countries that have caused the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen by providing arms to the aggressors are accomplices in these crimes and must be held accountable for their support," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Monday.

He criticized the international community for remaining silent and indifferent to the atrocities committed by the Saudi-led coalition in its military campaign against Yemen and expressed sympathy with the families of victims.

The Iranian spokesperson called on the United Nations and countries involved in the Yemeni crisis to ramp up their efforts in order to put an immediate end to the attacks and adopt necessary measures to protect civilians, particularly women and children.

At least 13 people were killed and 92 others sustained injuries after Saudi warplanes launched aerial assaults against an area in Sa'wan district in Yemen's west-central province of Sana'a on Sunday evening, Youssef al-Hazzari, a spokesman for the Yemeni Ministry of Public Health and Population, said. He said most of the victims were schoolchildren.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched the devastating campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing the Houthi Ansarullah movement.

According to a report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, the Saudi-led war has so far claimed the lives of about 56,000 Yemenis.

The war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN has already said that a record 22.2 million Yemenis are in dire need of food, including 8.4 million threatened by severe hunger. According to the world body, Yemen is suffering from the most severe famine in more than 100 years.