In 2015, Saudi Arabia launched a war of aggression against Yemen, leading a U.S.-backed military coalition. From then to the present day, the coalition has carried out thousands of airstrikes.
Saudi airstrikes have hit homes, markets, weddings and funeral gatherings. They have destroyed schools and hospitals and caused extensive damage to infrastructure. Saudi Arabia has also admitted using British-made cluster bombs, which are banned under an international treaty. Their unexploded bomblets can threaten civilians for years after an attack.
What Saudi Arabia has done to Yemen is no less horrific than what Israel has done to Gaza. The parallels include killing civilians, imposing blockades, restricting access to food and medicine, and destroying the systems people depend on to survive. Bombing claims lives. Blockades deepen hunger and disease. People pay the price in their homes, hospitals and markets.
We are people defending our land, striving for sovereignty and asserting our right to self-determination. The future of our countries is for their people to decide. This is our land, and defending it is our right.
These scenes are from the Dahyan school bus massacre in Saada, northern Yemen, on August 9, 2018, when a Saudi-led coalition airstrike killed 40 children.