According to a recent statement from the Yemeni Government’s Minister of Health – Dr. Tamim Al-Shami – the Saudi-led Coalition airstrikes have killed a total of 5,412 Yemeni civilians since the inception of these inhuman attacks to preserve the political power of the exiled President, ‘Abd-Rabbah Mansour Hadi.
Of the 5,412 Yemeni civilians killed by these Saudi-led Coalition since the airstrikes began in March 2015, 1,603 were reportedly children under the age of 14 and 1,258 were women.
On March 25th, 2015, the unpopular Yemeni President, ‘Abd-Rabbah Mansour Hadi, fled his hometown of Aden for the Saudi capital of Riyadh, leaving his country leaderless and in complete disarray, while he sought refuge from the popular Yemeni resistance that chased him out of his luxurious presidential palace in Sanaa.
In retaliation for attempting to depose their greatest political ally in the country, the Saudi Royal Family responded with relentless airstrikes over Sanaa and the western countryside of Yemen, killing over 1,000 civilians in only two months of airstrikes.
To garner support for their violent endeavor, the Saudi Royals created a coalition comprised of Arab states to bomb the predominately Zaydi Shi’a resistance force known as the “Houthis.”
Unwilling to back down to their oppressors, the Houthis and the Yemeni popular resistance factions have fought off repeated attempts by the Saudi-led Coalition to capture their territory.
Saudi Arabia has refused to back down from Yemen, despite this high death toll; instead, they have recently increased the number of military personnel on the ground in Yemen, committing to a long-term engagement.