Local Editor

Dozens of human rights activists and Yemeni Americans gathered outside the White House on Friday to express their outrage at Saudi Arabia’s airstrikes on Yemen, which have mostly targeted civilians killing scores of women and children.

According to Tasnim news agency, dozens of human rights activists as well as Yemenis residing in the US gathered outside the White House during the demonstrations on Friday, where Saudi Arabia’s King Salman was to arrive for a meeting with US President Barack Obama, to call for an end to Riyadh’s aggression.

Participants in the protest lashed out at the Saudi regime’s malign activities and atrocities in the region, including its role in the formation of the so-called "Daesh" ["ISIL"] extremist group, by chanting slogans that condemned Saudi Arabia as being the same, in essence, as "Daesh".

Additionally, protestors called on the Saudi king to respect human rights inside Saudi Arabia. They carried placards reading "women driving is not terrorism".

Human rights groups have already condemned the Saudi-led intervention for not protecting civilians and causing widespread destruction. Amnesty International [AI] said in a report recently this month [September] that the aggression had left a "bloody trail of civilian death" which could amount to war crimes.

A Saudi-led coalition backed by the United States has been carrying out a military aggression on Yemen by launching airstrikes against the country since March 26. The airstrikes have not been authorized by the United Nations [UN].

The ’civilian’ death toll in Yemen has risen to at least 1,916, with another 4,186 civilians wounded since the escalation of the conflict in March, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights [OHCHR] reported recently last month.

The US-led Saudi aggression began in a bid to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and restore power to the country’s fugitive former Yemeni president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Saudi Arabia.