Iran condemns deadly Saudi strike on Yemen wedding
Iran has condemned Saudi Arabia's fatal airstrike on a wedding ceremony in Yemen’s southwestern Dhamar region.
“The attacks by foreign military forces on residential areas and civilian targets in Yemen have so far ravaged thousands of defenseless people of this Muslim country and have had no gains for the invading forces but destruction and massacre of innocent people,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Marzieh Afkham, said on Thursday.
She called on the UN and "influential countries" with regard to the Yemen crisis to "accelerate their efforts for bringing an immediate end" to the Saudi airstrikes and focus on protecting civilians, particularly women and children.
On Wednesday, Saudi fighter jets struck a wedding ceremony in Dhamar, situated about 100km (60 miles) southeast of the Yemeni capital city of Sana’a, killing at least 51 civilians there.
Yemen’s Health Ministry spokesman Tamim al-Shami said thirty others, including children, were wounded in the air raids.
However, the spokesman for Saudi Arabia's military operation in Yemen, Brigadier General Ahmed al-Asiri, denied the Saudi involvement in the incident, claiming, "We did not conduct any operation in Dhamar.”
Wednesday’s tragedy was the second of kind targeting wedding parties over the past few days.
In late September, at least 135 civilians lost their lives and many more sustained injuries after Saudi warplanes hit a wedding celebration in the port city of Mokha, located in Yemen's southwestern province of Ta'izz.
Saudi Arabia had also denied carrying out the September wedding attack as "completely false" but the UN confirmed both the assault and the death toll.
“This may be the single deadliest incident since the start of the conflict,” UN human rights agency spokesman Rupert Colville said. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also said, "Any intentional attack against civilians is considered a serious violation of international humanitarian law.”
Yemen has been under military strikes on a daily basis since Saudi forces launched their military aggression against their southern neighbor on March 26, in a bid to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and restore power to the fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.
Some 6,400 people have reportedly lost their lives in the Saudi attacks, and a total of nearly 14,000 people have been injured since March.
Jordanians rally en masse to censure Trump's Gaza takeover plan
Jordan rejects US proposal to relocate Palestinians
UNRWA unraveled amid Israel's allegations, reduced intl. support
Trump ‘not ruling out’ Iran's offer of indirect nuclear talks: Report
Israeli military uses human shields in Gaza ‘at least six times a day’
Israel expands war on Gaza Strip to seize 'extensive territory'
Top US universities normalizing 'fascistic governance’: Fired Iranian scholar
Report: Saudi, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait ban US warplanes for strikes
VIDEO | The day Iran said: Yes
More journalists killed in Gaza than in both World Wars combined: Report
US lawmakers move to block arms sales to Israel amid Gaza war
PressTV NEWSLETTER
now
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
