Iran Press/Middle East: Yemenis gathered in Sana'a on Monday to pay tribute to martyrs of the devastating 2016 attack and condemned Saudi aggression against the impoverished nation, according to Iran Press.
The October 8, 2016 Saudi air raid killed at least 155 people and wounded over 520 others, prompting an international outcry and strong criticism even from Riyadh's close allies.
Witnesses said at least two air-dropped munitions penetrated the roof of the al-Sala al-Kubra community hall in Sana’a and detonated a few minutes apart during the funeral ceremony for the father of a senior Houthi official.
The incident was one of the deadliest in the Saudi bombing campaign which began in March 2015 in a bid to eliminate the Houthi Ansarullah movement and reinstall a Riyadh-friendly regime.
Doctors Without Borders reported that their hospitals had treated over 400 victims.
The scene of the attack, filled with charred and mutilated bodies is still fresh in the minds of witnesses and the family and friends of those at the funeral.
Witnesses reported that around 3:30 pm, two rounds of air dropped munitions had broken through the ceiling of the community hall and detonated intermittently.
The first explosions had killed and injured many victims instantly while the second devastated first responders and those entering the community hall to help victims.
The munitions were identified as U.S. manufactured air-dropped GBU-12 Paveway II 500-pound laser-guided bomb. Saudi-coalition forces immediately denied involvement in the attack but later expressed support for an independent investigation spearheaded by the U.S.
Over the course of Yemen's almost three-year long war, this was not the first deadly attack against non-combatant civilians, nor was it the last. But what made it different was the scale of it, the fact it occurred in broad daylight, in the capital, and that it was all caught on tape.
For almost three years, rights groups have campaigned for the UNHCR to establish an international, independent inquiry commission into Yemen's war crimes.
In September 2014, the Ansarullah fighters took state matters in their hands in Sana’a amid the absence of an efficient government there.
Before gaining control of the capital, the Houthis had set a deadline for the political parties to put aside differences and fill the power vacuum, but the deadline was missed without any change in the impoverished country’s political scene.
However, the former Saudi-backed president, Abd Rabuh Mansur Hadi, later stepped down, refusing a call by the Houthi movement to reconsider the move.
Hadi then fled to Saudi Arabia, which launched a military campaign against Yemen along with a number of its allies in March 2015 to reinstall Hadi and crush the Houthi movement.
Read More:
Yemenis stage massive anti-Saudi rally in Sanaa
Yemenis hold anti US,Saudi protest
