Lest We Forget: Children Are Dying in Yemen

Ahlul Bayt News Agency - The Saudi-led war on Yemen continues to kill and maim innocent children and the world is not doing anything about it.

According to UNICEF, since March 26, over 1,000 civilians have been killed, 4,000 wounded and some 150,000 displaced. These are conservative numbers as the verification process is still ongoing and there are hundreds of thousands of children who continue to live in the most dangerous circumstances.
 
The rising number of civilian casualties, however, shows clearly how devastating this illegal war continues to be and why a speedy end to the violence is the only way to help children and their families to lead normal lives:
 
- It is Saudi Arabia and its counter-revolutionary Arab coalition - with the United States playing a leadership role — that continue to kill defenseless civilians in broad daylight and with little regard to international humanitarian law. The situation is getting worse as there is no pause in airstrikes or an international authority to force the invaders to stop the attacks.
 
- With no sign of letting up, the Saudi-led attacks - in combination with a naval blockade - are cutting off civilians from vital food, water and medical aid. Escalating the conflict is making the dire humanitarian situation worse. The United Nations must do all they can to push for a lifting of the blockade and a permanent and immediate ceasefire here and now.
 
- The UN’s minimalist plan for a ceasefire barely does even that. The root causes of chaos did not emerge in a vacuum. The UN itself should take some responsibility for creating the crisis in the first place. It deserves criticism for knuckling under to the illegal war.
 
- The UN must comprehensively address the humanitarian crisis and its root causes too. It should lay blame for the unfolding tragedy on Saudi Arabia, the United States and their counter-revolutionary Arab coalition. Their wanton airstrikes have severely destabilized the poorest nation in the Middle East.
 
- This is a much broader regional crisis that the United Nations should address seriously at an international summit. The terror-mongers have to own up to what they have done in regard to the situation in Yemen and to other states in the Middle East and Northern Africa- under bloodcurdling pretexts, as always.
 
All in all, the world body must take stronger action to reprimand Saudi Arabia for its war crimes, for its shadowy play of leading the terrorist groups of Al-Qaeda and ISIL, and for its refusing to allow the delivery of medical supplies and humanitarian aid to Yemen.
 
Lest we forget, the unprovoked war has created further opportunities for the terrorist groups in the Arabian Peninsula, which the popular movement of Ansarullah opposes. By seeing the conflict through the American, Israeli and Saudi lens, the United Nations will only magnify the ongoing humanitarian crisis and reign of terror.



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