Local Editor
Morocco has suspended its participation in a Saudi-led military coalition that has been fighting Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah group since 2015, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita confirmed Wednesday evening.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Bourita attributed the move to Rabat’s assessment of “developments on the ground” in Yemen, “especially in regards to the humanitarian situation”.
According to the foreign minister, Rabat had already scaled down its participation in coalition activities in May of 2015 after a Moroccan F-16 was shot down by the Houthis in Yemen.
Morocco has not participated in recent coalition exercises, nor has it taken part in recent meetings between representatives of coalition member states, Bourita told Al Jazeera.
In early January, Moroccan contingents were absent -- for the second time in a row -- from Saudi-hosted “Red Wave” military exercises.
Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating military campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the aim of bringing the government of former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing Ansarullah.
According to a new report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, the Saudi-led war has so far claimed the lives of around 56,000 Yemenis.
The Saudi-led war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN has already said that a record 22.2 million Yemenis are in dire need of food, including 8.4 million threatened by severe hunger.
According to the world body, Yemen is suffering from the most severe famine in more than 100 years.
A number of Western countries, the US and Britain in particular, are also accused of being complicit in the ongoing aggression as they supply the Riyadh regime with advanced weapons and military equipment as well as logistical and intelligence assistance.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
