Iraqi protesters slam Saudi aggression against Yemen

Thousands of people have held separate demonstrations across Iraq in protest against the ongoing Saudi military aggression against Yemen.

On Tuesday, Iraqi protesters carried portraits of the leader of Yemen’s Ansarullah movement, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, as they converged on the landmark Firdous square of the capital, Baghdad, to voice their resentment at Riyadh’s onslaught against its impoverished southern neighbor.

A similar rally was also staged in Iraq’s southern city of Basra, where people held banners and flags to show their anger at the Saudi airstrikes across Yemen.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein has warned that Yemen is on the brink of complete collapse amid Saudi-led aerial assaults against the country.

“The country seems to be on the verge of total collapse,” the UN official said in a statement released on Tuesday.

He also expressed worries about the fatalities caused by the air raids, saying the situation in Yemen “is extremely alarming, with dozens of civilians killed over the past four days.”

According to figures published by Zeid’s office, over 90 civilians have been killed and nearly 370 injured since March 26, when the Al Saud regime unleashed deadly air raids against Yemen in an attempt to restore power to fugitive Yemeni president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.

Yemenis gather items from the debris of their house, which was damaged in a Saudi airstrike, near Sana’a Airport on March 31, 2015. © AFP
Hadi stepped down in January and refused to reconsider the decision despite calls by Ansarullah revolutionaries. The Yemeni parliament did not approve his resignation.

Gradually, as the Yemeni government failed to provide security and properly run the affairs of the country, the Ansarullah fighters started to take control of state matters to contain corruption and terror.

The fugitive president fled Aden to the Saudi capital city of Riyadh after Ansarullah revolutionaries advanced toward Aden, where he had sought to set up a rival power base, and withdrew his resignation.

The Houthis, however, say Hadi lost his legitimacy as president of the country after he escaped the capital in February.