Human Rights Ministry: 49,000 Victims of US-Saudi Direct Bombing, 1.5 Million Victims of Indirect Taregting

The number of victims during eight years of aggression and siege exceeded 49,000 dead and wounded, including women and children, the Ministry of Human Rights announced on Wednesday. Nearly one and a half million civilians died indirectly as a result of prohibited weapons, the spread of diseases, and the siege practiced by the US-Saudi aggression on Yemenis, it added.

The Ministry of Human Rights, in partnership with the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood, held a press conference in the capital Sana’a, entitled “Eight years of aggression: the blockade, international conspiracy and UN complicity.”

“The total number of dead and wounded over eight years exceeded forty-nine thousand, including more than 8,700 children and more than 5,400 women,” the Ministry confirmed.

It explained that 1,483,000 civilians died indirectly as a result of the spread of chronic diseases, poisoning of chemicals from prohibited weapons, malnutrition, and others.

“The aggression and siege for eight years caused the poverty rate to rise to 95 percent and the unemployment rate to more than 65 percent,” it indicated, stressing that the unjust blockade has exacerbated the suffering and caused severe food insecurity for more than 16 million people.

The Ministry of Human Rights counted the deaths of more than 120,000 patients as a result of the closure of Sana’a International Airport and the deprivation of nearly a million patients in urgent need of travel for treatment.

Concerning the fishermen, the Ministry stated that more than 3,000 fishermen were killed, injured and tortured by the navy of aggression, and more than 4,600 fishing boats were destroyed and burned, and 173 boats were stolen from the fishermen.

The Minister of Human Rights, Ali Al-Dailami, indicated that the ministry documented, from March 2015 to March 2023, no less than 12,563 incidents of the aggression and its mercenaries obstructing the delivery of humanitarian aid and basic materials to civilians.

He stressed that Sana’a International Airport is still closed to Yemenis and is constantly exposed to severe restrictions by the aggression.

“International organizations have mentioned more than once the tragic humanitarian situation in Yemen, but that did not move a finger and did not push them to carry out their responsibilities,” the Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood Akhlaq Al-Shami said.

For his part, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Human Rights Ali Tayseer affirmed that the US-Saudi aggression practiced all types of crime against the Yemeni people in all aspects of life.

“We, as a Yemeni People, are disobedient to kneeling, and these crimes will only make us more steadfast and more mobilized to confront the aggression,” he added.

Saudi Arabia, backed by the United States and regional allies, launched the war on Yemen in March 2015, claiming the goal of bringing the government of former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi back to power.

The US-Saudi aggression continues to target neighborhoods and populated areas and destroy the infrastructure and capabilities of the country, in light of a suspicious international silence.

The war has left hundreds of thousands of Yemenis dead and displaced millions more. It has also destroyed Yemen’s infrastructure and spread famine and infectious diseases there.