Saudi-led coalition responsible for COVID-19 outbreak in Yemen: al-Houthi

Al-Houthi blamed the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and their domestic and foreign allies for the spread of coronavirus in Yemen and for the current events in the country.

In a Tweet on Saturday, he noted that reports of a case of coronavirus in the Ash-Shihr region in Hadhramaut Governorate (East of Yemen) indicate that this place like other parts of Yemen is under attack.

“We hold the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and their allies responsible for this incident and we are ready to work with our brothers as much as we can.” He said.

The first case of COVID-19 infection was reported in Hadhramaut Governorate last Thursday and the day after, the national committee for fighting against coronavirus announced the quarantine of 120 suspicious cases.

Stretching from south to northeast of Yemen, the Hadhramaut Governorate is under the control of Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi and the Saudi-Emiratis coalition.

Since the outbreak of coronavirus and the warnings issued by the UN regarding the huge death toll in impoverished nations such as Yemen, officials of the National Salvation Government (based in Sanaa) blamed the Saudi-Emiratis coalition for the current situation in Yemen and stated that the coalition may take advantage of coronavirus to make the government surrender.

Meanwhile, fears are growing about the aftermath of the outbreak of the disease in Yemen which is being under the aggression of the Saudi-led coalition since March 2015 which has damaged its infrastructure including those related to public health.

The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the war has claimed more than 100,000 lives over the past nearly five years.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have purchased billions of dollars’ worth of weapons from the United States, France and the United Kingdom in the war on Yemen.

The Saudi-led coalition has been widely criticized for the high civilian death toll from its bombing campaign. The alliance has carried out nearly 20,500 air raids in Yemen, according to the data collected by the Yemen Data Project.

The UN says over 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger.