Yemenis stage massive rally against US support of Saudi war on Yemen

Tens of thousands of people have held a massive rally in the Yemeni capital Sana’a to voice their outrage at the US-backed Saudi military campaign against the impoverished Arab country.

The demonstrators marched through Ma’rib Street in central Sana’a after Friday prayers, carrying Yemeni flags and banners in condemnation of US President Donald Trump’s upcoming visit to the Saudi capital Riyadh later this month.

Participants in the rally also shouted slogans such as, “No to American terrorism,” renewing the Yemeni people’s steadfastness in the face of the Saudi aggression, which has been supported by the US.

The protesters condemned Washington for being complicit in the Saudi crimes against the Yemeni nation by providing the Al Saud regime with conventional and banned weapons.

In a speech to the demonstrators, Supreme Revolutionary Committee Chairman Muhammad Ali al-Houthi said the massive rally would be a prelude to a yet larger protest to be held concurrent with Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia.

Protesters also condemned some Persian Gulf Arab states for publicly aiding the Saudi regime in its brutal campaign against Yemenis and destroying their country.

Since March 2015, Saudi warplanes have been heavily bombarding Yemen in an attempt to crush the popular Houthi Ansarullah movement and reinstall the resigned president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

Latest tallies show that the imposed war has so far killed over 12,000 Yemenis and wounded thousands more. The Saudi aggression has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s facilities and infrastructure, destroying many hospitals, schools, and factories.

Nearly 3.3 million Yemenis, including 2.1 million children, are currently suffering from acute malnutrition, while more than seven million people are grappling with starvation. The figures, however, could drastically increase if the Saudi war machine continues to breathe fire on Yemeni people.

UN warns about Saudi attack on Yemeni port 

Meanwhile, the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM) warned that a possible Saudi attack on Yemen’s Houthi-controlled port city of Hudaydah could displace several hundred thousands of people.

“A minimum of 400,000 people will flee the city eastwards, once Hudaydah is under attack,” said IOM Director of Operations and Emergencies Mohammed Abdiker in a statement.

Located in the southern Yemeni province of Ta’izz, Hudaydah is part of a broad battlefront where Saudi forces are fighting the Yemeni army and its Houthi allies, who are in control of most of Yemen’s northern and western regions. Some 80 percent of the war-torn country’s food imports and relief aid also come through the port.

Despite repeated assaults and heavy bombardments, Saudi Arabia has failed to seize the strategic port. On March 19, Riyadh called for jurisdiction over Hudaydah to be transferred to the UN, a move which the world body rejected.