Yemeni Journalist: I Was Afraid US-Saudi Coalition Would Bomb My Wedding Party too

For more than three years, the United States has helped Saudi Arabia launch a disastrous war on Yemen that unleashed the greatest humanitarian crisis on the planet. Washington sold billions of dollars in arms to Riyadh, providing fuel and intelligence to the Saudi bombardment. This support continued despite the heinous atrocities committed by the Saudi army, which relentlessly shelled civilian areas in Yemen.
On April 22, Saudi Arabia used a US-made bomb to attack a wedding party in the north-western Hajjah government. At least 33 Yemenis were killed in air strikes, mostly women and children. Another 55 were injured. The bride was killed in the Saudi attack, and the groom was wounded with shrapnel.
The newspaper “Real News” with the journalist Ahmed al-Jaabari, who lives on the ground in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, and provided detailed reports on the bombing of Saudi Arabia to civilian areas.
Ahmad al-Jaabari: Air raids by Saudi-led coalition forces killed 33 people and wounded 55, including women and children, at a wedding in Bani Qays, Hajjah. They killed, bombed cars, you know, those carried away from the scene by donkeys. Equipment ran out of hospital. So they turned it from one side to a tragedy.
Ben Norton: Many Yemenis are afraid to hold weddings, because they may be bombed by Saudi Arabia, Ahmad said. In fact, Ahmed recently married, and his family tried to talk to him about a wedding for fear of being attacked.
Ahmed Ja’bari: The Saudi-led coalition has been targeting weddings since the start of the war. So nothing new. People like now are afraid of weddings, like me. I got married a month ago, and my mother told me, do not do a wedding. They may strike you. They may target your wedding. Do not do this I told my mother that I wanted to celebrate my wedding party. It’s like once or once or one moment I need to celebrate something, to celebrate my new life with my wife. So she told me she was scared. She was really scared. After I finished a wedding and went home, she hugged me and yelled. I thought they might be targeting my wedding party. Saudi Arabia wants people to be scared. To feel at war and to be afraid of celebrating and of living a normal life.
Ben Norton: Saudi Arabia can not continue to wage war in Yemen because it enjoys strong support from the United States and the United Kingdom. The remains of a US-made bomb were found under the rubble of the wedding, which was attacked by Saudi Arabia in Yemen on April 22. The horrific video spread over social networks, showing a young boy who escaped the attack as he held the body of his dead father. Ahmad al-Jaabari confirmed that Saudi Arabia is committing brutal war crimes with Western support.
Ahmed Al-Jaabari: The United Kingdom and the United States played a crucial role in creating the war against Yemen. The bombs made in the United Kingdom and the United States have transformed the lives of Yemenis into hell by killing their loved ones and destroying their homes and infrastructure. These US and British bombs were shot down by British and US aircraft, flown by Saudis working with the help of the United States to refuel and intelligence.
Ben Norton: Ahmed called on foreign governments to stop arming Saudi Arabia in this bloody war.
Ahmed al-Jaabari: They are killing civilians with these bombs, so the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom must know the lives of Yemenis, and they can not be killed easily. So we deserve to live a better life, and they have to stop selling weapons to the Saudis.