Saleh calls for revenge against Saudi Arabia
October 9, 2016, 3:22 pm

Former President Saleh has called for revenge against Saudi Arabia after he claims it destroyed a funeral hall and killed hundreds [Xinhua]

The Qaah Al Kubra (Large Hall) in the Yemeni city of Sanaa was attacked and destroyed on Saturday as it hosted a funeral.

At least 160 people were killed in the attack, some burned to mere ash, and more than 525 wounded in the aerial bombing which struck as mourners had gathered for the funeral of the father of a Houthi official.

Many of the killed and wounded were civilians.

Saudi Arabia has denied carrying out the aerial bombardment and promised an internal investigation.

But Saleh insisted it was Saudi Arabia that was responsible.

“All of our sons and fighters must head immediately to take revenge by escalating armed attacks in the borders with Saudi Arabia,” he said in a statement released on Sunday.

It was rumored that he had been among the mourners at the hall on Saturday but this has not been verified.

The attack on the hall is among the most horrific of the two-year civil war.

Yemeni TV showed charred bodies beyond recognition being carried out of the hall.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack and said that “any deliberate attack against civilians is utterly unacceptable and calls for a prompt and impartial investigation of this incident”.

“The secretary-general once again reminds all parties to abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law – including the fundamental rules of proportionality, distinction and precaution – to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure against attack,” a statement from his office added.

No end in sight

In January 2015, the Houthis – who are Shia – seized the presidential palace in the capital Sanaa and forced then leader Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi to resign. They have since sought to consolidate their hold on the country.

Hadi, who was placed under house arrest, eventually escaped and fled to Aden, the former capital of South Yemen.

He then declared Aden the new temporary capital of the entire country, but the Houthis pursued him there and captured that city as well.

The fall of Aden prompted the Saudis and some of their allies to mount military operations against the Houthis, who they accuse of acting as Iranian proxies.

The fight between the Houthis and the government, which was formed in November 2014, has created a security and political vacuum that has been used by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, as well as the more militant Islamic State (ISIL), to grow their strength and influence.

But Yemen is also on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe.

UN statistics show that almost 370,000 children in Yemen suffer from malnutrition due to starvation. At least 7,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

The BBC reports that since the war began, 600 hospitals have shut down throughout the country.

The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies