Saudi Warplanes Are on Killing Missions in Yemen

Despite Riyadh’s claim that its warplanes are striking only the positions held by the rebel Yemeni fighters inside Yemen, Fars News Agency has reported widespread bombings that included Sana’a airport and the Dulaimi airbase; Saudi warplanes have reportedly flattened a number of homes near the airport.

In addition, the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) in its most-recent report out today, has accused Saudi Arabia of using internationally-prohibited weapons in its air offensives against Yemen. Citing an example, it added that Yemeni officials have provided it with sufficient evidence which indicates that the Saudi-led warplanes on March 26 claimed the lives of 23 civilians, including 6 children and 5 women, in Bani Hawat village in west-central Yemen, using banned cluster bombs.

Five Persian Gulf States — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait — backed by the US, declared war on Yemen in a joint statement issued last week.

It is evident that the Saudi intent is not only to defeat the rebels, who are trying to re-instate the earlier-ousted President Ali Abdul Saleh, but to destroy Yemen’s infrastructure as well. Fars News Agency today reported that Saudi Defense Ministry Spokesman Brigadier General Ahmad Al-Assiri, while speaking to the reporters today in Riyadh, disclosed that Riyadh’s aggression against Yemen is aimed at destroying the Arab country’s military and civil infrastructure. Al-Assiri reportedly said even if the rebel fighters surrender to the Saudi army there are predetermined targets that Riyadh should continue to destroy irrespective of the developments on the battlefield.

Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council has unanimously approved the Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC’s) proposed resolution backing an arms embargo on the rebels in Yemen, and called for discussions between the GCC and the Security Council, reported Al Arabiya News Channel.