Critics of Saudi Arabia’s heavy-handed maneuvers accused the kingdom of firing on an already wounded Lebanon.
“When a non-entity minister in Lebanon says something vaguely critical of Saudi Arabia, they overreact and engage in collective punishment, because Lebanon is weak and poor and it is easy to kick a horse when it is down,” Karim Traboulsi, Managing editor of The New Arab, a pan-Arab publication, wrote on Facebook. “I hope that in my life Lebanon will become free and self-sufficient, because dignity is the most precious thing.”
Criticisms similar to Mr. Kordahi’s also come from Western politicians and advocacy groups, who accuse Saudi Arabia of causing thousands of civilian casualties, indiscriminately bombing civilian targets and prolonging a war that has dragged Yemen to the brink of famine, destroyed his country. infrastructure and destroyed its economy.
A United Nations report in September accused both sides of the war: the Saudi-led coalition, which was supported by American military aidand the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, with violate international law by killing civilians. He said coalition airstrikes had killed or injured at least 18,000 Yemeni civilians since 2015, while the Houthis shelled residential neighborhoods, camps for displaced Yemenis, markets and an airport.
Pressure has increased on Saudi Arabia to end the war, with President Biden stop US military aid to the coalition in February. But the Houthi rebels rejected a ceasefire offer of the Saudis earlier this year and hostilities have continued, most recently centered in an area called Marib.
On Saturday, the casualty count rose again, with a car bomb at the airport in Aden, Yemen, killing at least nine and injuring at least 29, according to a health ministry official who asked not to be identified because he did not. he was authorized to do so. talk to the media.
Hwaida Saad and Asmaa al-Omar contributed reporting from Beirut, Lebanon, and Shuaib Almosawa from Sana, Yemen.