Alwaght- Saudi warplanes attacked a large crowd of Yemeni people in the capital of Sanaa and killed over 140 people, Yemeni health authorities said on Saturday.
Saudi army set a bloody recode attacking the funeral ceremony for the father of the Yemeni Interior Minister, Jalal al-Roweishan, who had died of natural causes on Friday.
The UN reported local health sources as saying that over 140 were killed during the attack while another 525 people were injured.
The Yemeni minister of health, of course, reported 82 fatalities, the disparity may be due to difficulties in rescue operations at the scene.
The attack was the bloodiest aggression by Saudi army in a single raid since Riyadh began its airstrikes against Yemeni people in March 2015 to reinstate Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi who resigned as Yemeni president and took refuge in the Kingdom.
The attack was condemned fiercely by Yemeni authorities as well as Iranian government. During a news conference in Sanaa, Ghazi Ismail, the Yemeni health minister said "The Saudi aggression committed a major crime today, by attacking a mourning hall for the al-Roweishan family, targeting residents in the hall."
The Yemen’s Supreme Political Council also vowed a firm response calling on people to take to the streets of Sanaa to decry the assault.
“A response to the intruders’ crimes would soothe the soul of the Yemeni people,” Lebanon’s Al Manar TV quoted the council as saying in a statement released on Sunday.
The Ansarullah resistance movement also condemned the attack as a crime by the “ruthless thugs” of Saudi Arabia. The movement’s spokesman, Mohammad Abdulsalam strongly denounced the deadly onslaught and said “Bloodshed is only followed by more bloodshed.”
He also held the United Nations responsible for the massacre over its silence toward the deadly Saudi raids that have become regular.
Abdulsalam also slammed the international community for turning a blind eye to the Saudi aggression against Yemen, which has so far paved the way for the regime in Riyadh to further destroy the impoverished country with US-made weapons.
The Ansarullah official called on Yemeni forces and fighters from the Popular Committees to intensify attacks against Saudi targets.
Iran reacted almost instantly to denounce Saudi attacks, calling it “a horrific and inhuman crime”.
“To resolve the crisis in Yemen there is no solution but the end of aggression by the brutish Saudi rulers and start of new round of talks that includes all Yemeni sides,” Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Bahram Qasemi was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.
The Lebanese resistance movement, Hezbollah, was also quick to deplore the Saudi airstrike, saying it serves the US interests in the region.
In a televised speech on Saturday, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah secretary general, said that it was “expected” from the Riyadh regime to conduct such attack as it has committed several “massacres” in the Arabian Peninsula and neighboring countries.
“We must condemn in the loudest voice this massacre committed today...I tell this [Yemeni] nation they will inevitably be victorious and their blood will win over the sword of the killer and terrorist,” he said.
The brutality of the attack shocked even the White House, main Saudi ally and supporter in its aggression against Yemen, prompting the US authorities to hint a possible halt of such supports.
In a strongly worded rebuke, the White House said it may consider cutting its support to the Saudi-led military campaign.
"U.S. security cooperation with Saudi Arabia is not a blank check," said U.S. National Security Council spokesman Ned Price in a statement. "In light of this and other recent incidents, we have initiated an immediate review of our already significantly reduced support to the Saudi-led coalition and are prepared to adjust our support so as to better align with U.S. principles, values and interests, including achieving an immediate and durable end to Yemen's tragic conflict."
After the statement the Saudi-led coalition tried to distance itself from the crime by Reuters news agency quoting unnamed Saudi officials as saying "Absolutely no such operation took place at that target. The coalition is aware of such reports and is certain that it is possible that other causes of bombing are to be considered. The coalition has in the past avoided such gatherings and (they have) never been a subject of targets.""
The attack was not unprecedented, however. In September last year, Saudi jets bombarded a wedding ceremony in the town of Mokha in the southwestern province of Taizz, killing over 130 civilians. The victims were mostly women and children.
The Arab Coalition forces had also carried out several attacks on medical centers, including some run by international aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), schools, factories and homes in the past 18 months that has killed scores of civilians.
In August, MSF said it was evacuating its staff from six hospitals in northern Yemen after a coalition air strike hit a health facility operated by the group killing 19 people.
The United Nations puts the death toll from the military aggression at about 10,000. The United Nations children’s agency, UNICEF, announced on Tuesday that violence has left over two million children out of school in Yemen.
An earlier report in the British Independent newspaper said over half of the 28m Yemeni population are experiencing food shortage after the 18 months of Saudi imposed siege.
