Hassan Hanizadeh told the Strategic Council Online that the war of Al Saud regime against the oppressed and impoverished people of Yemen is indeed a proxy war on behalf of the United States, the West and the Zionist regime.

“The Al Saud regime, during the past four decades has made its efforts to dominate the cultural, political and economic spheres of Yemen and after the failure of Saudi Arabia to influence the religious and political attitudes and approaches of the people of Yemen, tremendous costs have been paid by the Saudi regime to impose a war on the poverty-stricken people of Yemen. Saudi Arabia has so far spent more that 350 billion dollars in its assault on Yemen but has failed to change the realities on the ground as well as the economic and cultural status of Yemen in the favour of Riyadh.”

Hanizadeh said tens of thousands of Yemeni women and children have been killed during the past five years by Saudi Arabia and the Saudi-led coalition and about 11 million others have been displaced while a big number of people are in dire need of food and medicine.

He explained that Saudi Arabia, during the past five years, has besieged Yemen from the land, sea and air and does now allow the traffic of food and medicine, saying that two million Yemeni children are suffering from malnutrition caused as the result of the Saudi war while so far eight thousand children have been killed or injured during attacks by Saudi Arabia fighter jets fueled by the United States.

Hanizadeh added that experts of the United Nations have warned that the year 2020 is the worst year in terms of famine and diseases for Yemen being exacerbated by the outbreak of coronavirus in the country.

He said millions of people in the conflict-stricken and poverty-hit Yemen are on the verge of hunger and diseases.

Children account for half of the victims in the Saudi-led war against Yemen

The expert of West Asia affairs said the Secretary-General of the United Nations has confirmed that children account for half of the civilian casualties of the Saudi-led war on against Yemen.

Pointing to some of the dimensions of the Saudi crimes in Yemen as being “unprecedented in the history of humanity”, Hanizadeh said the United States and the West have tried during the past five years through the sale of 80 billion dollar worth of sophisticated arms to Saudi Arabia, to profit from the massive sale of their weapons to improve their economy and are therefore accomplice in the Saudi crimes against the people of Yemen.

“Such huge sale of arms in five years to Saudi Arabia has emboldened the Al Saud regime to keep on its crimes and murder against the people of Yemen,” he said, referring to the numerous reports published by human rights organizations on the use of illegal arms such as white phosphorous, uranium-enriched, thermobaric and cluster bombs against civilians in Yemen.

Hanizadeh said that the global community has made very few efforts to save the oppressed people of Yemen from the assaults by Saudi Arabia, adding that international organizations have so far refused to even issue statements in condemnation of the Saudi crimes in Yemen.

“This illustrates that the international community is adopting double standards towards some regional and international developments in accordance with their own interests regardless of the significance of human tragedies and issues.”

Violation of international human rights law and principles by Saudi Arabia

Hanizadeh said Saudi Arabia is utilizing forbidden weapons and arms against the people of Yemen and destroying public buildings and civilian structures while showering Yemeni cities and villages with sophisticated missiles.

“Targeting civilian structures and unprotected buildings constitutes a war crime and crime against humanity. It is indeed a violation of international human rights law and principles. Saudi Arabia, relying on the support and aid of the West, Zionist lobby and the United States continues committing crimes in Yemen and tries to bring the people of Yemen to their knee through murder, intimidation and coercion.”

Hanizadeh said reports published by the Human Rights Watch are followed by very weak statements by the international community that has closed eyes on such Saudi crimes with the support of the United States in Yemen.

He added that the United States has provided Saudi Arabia with advanced weapons, cluster bombs and even weakened nuclear weapons to test on the innocent people of Yemen. Saudi Arabia has no regard to the public opinion and respect to nations and their freedom and only pursues its own interests in waging regional wars.

This expert of West Asia affairs emphasized that the interest and benefit of the United States lie in the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia, adding that human rights issues and human rights violations by Saudi Arabia have no place in the US literature.

“As the horrible murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the distinguished Saudi journalist, in the hands of Saudi rules indicated, such dreadful murders by Saudis are faced with the silence and even support of the United States. The United States government has even forced international institutions to adopt silence against the murders of the Al Saud family.”

Hanizadeh said the issue of human rights has turned into a tool for the imposition of pressure by the United States in line with its own interests against other countries.

“Particularly during the dark Trump tenure in the White House as US president, the violation of human rights by the American government has come to the spotlight. Even though in some states of the United States, some organizations are criticizing the sale of weapons of mass destruction by the US to Saudi Arabia, the American establishment is ignoring such criticism and continues to arm the Saudi regime with more weapons to kill innocent people in Yemen.”