Abdollahian: Saudi Arabia Not Serious about Ceasefire in Yemen
Local Editor
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, warned on Tuesday against the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Yemen, saying that Saudi Arabia is not taking the issue of ceasefire in Yemen seriously.
"Saudi Arabia played with fire by making a strategic mistake in the attack on Yemen," Abdollahian said.
Despite Saudi Arabia’s announcement on Saturday that there would be a five-day halt in its military aggression against Yemen from late on Sunday, Saudi-led aerial bombardment of the country continued unabated. Saudi Arabia has already violated several ceasefires in Yemen.
The Iranian diplomat further urged everybody to help the Yemeni people and also the United Nations [UN] in "ending the aggression and lifting the humanitarian blockade" in the country.
He also stressed the need for the political settlement of the crisis in Yemen.
A Saudi-led coalition backed by the United States has been carrying out airstrikes against Yemen since March. The airstrikes have not been authorized by the UN.
Saudi Arabia began its US-led military aggression against Yemen on March 26 - without a United [UN] Nation mandate - in a bid to restore power to the country’s fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who is a staunch ally of Saudi Arabia, and to undermine Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement which is currently responding to the attacks on the country.
Based on UN figures, over 3,261 people have been killed, 1,670 of whom were civilians in the Saudi onslaught.
