Iranian Leader’s Top Aide Asks Efforts by All Muslims to End Yemen Crisis

“A cowardly and of course unwise invasion and cruel siege has been imposed on the Yemeni nation,” Velayati said, addressing a meeting of the Muslim elites and thinkers from across the world in Tehran on Monday.

He warned that millions of oppressed Yemeni civilians have been affected by a catastrophe and war which has been launched by unwise people.

“Ending this cruel aggression is the responsibility of the entire Muslim world and it will only be resolved through talks among different Yemeni sides and of course, the Yemeni people will win,” Velayati said.

The Saudi-led coalition has been striking Yemen since March 2015 to restore power to fugitive president Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh. The Saudi-led aggression has so far killed at least 20,000 Yemenis, including hundreds of women and children.

Despite Riyadh’s claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi bombers are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.

According to several reports, the Saudi-led air campaign against Yemen has driven the impoverished country towards humanitarian disaster, as Saudi Arabia’s deadly campaign prevented the patients from travelling abroad for treatment and blocked the entry of medicine into the war-torn country.

Yemen is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis with more than 22 million people in need and is seeing a spike in needs, fueled by ongoing conflict, a collapsing economy and diminished social services and livelihoods.

A UN panel has compiled a detailed report of civilian casualties caused by the Saudi military and its allies during their war against Yemen, saying the Riyadh-led coalition has used precision-guided munitions in its raids on civilian targets.