Saudi airstrike on Sana’a funeral act of terrorism: Pundit

On Saturday, Saudi fighter jets pounded a funeral ceremony in Yemen's capital Sana'a. The air raid claimed the lives of more than 140 people and left well above 500 others wounded. The attack targeted a community hall where a funeral for the father of Interior Minister Jalal al-Roweishan was underway. The incident has drawn large-scale criticism and raised questions about the massive US arms sales to the Saudi regime. Press TV has spoken to Stephen Zunes, a professor at the University of San Francisco, as well as Michael Lane, the founder of American Institute for Foreign Policy, to discuss this latest act of brutal violence by the Saudi military.

Stephen Zunes believes that the Saudi airstrike on Sana’a funeral is an “act of terrorism” by any measure, arguing that the United States bears responsibility for the carnage because of providing deadly weaponry to the Saudi monarchy.

He also mentioned that there have been growing efforts in the US to try to stop the supply of weapons to Saudi Arabia which is an incredibly “lucrative” market for American arms manufacturers. However, he said, the US strategic and economic interests have often won out over concerns about human rights and international law.

“For the first time in many years, there [has been] an effort in the United States Senate to block a recently announced arms sales. Unfortunately that failed. But it does show that for the first time, the Americans are starting to become aware of the carnage that is made possible by this kind of deadly technology,” he stated.  

Zunes further noted that Saudi Arabia has never wanted any kind of “popular expression” in the Yemeni society. He said Riyadh seeks control and hegemony over Yemen and is willing to go to “extraordinary ends” to exert that.

He also opined that Saudi Arabia is becoming an increasingly independent actor and that Saudi rulers would not stop the military aggression against Yemen even if the United States told them to.

Zunes further argued that the United States approves of the goals of the Saudi military campaign in Yemen; otherwise, it would have spoken out against it. “It does show a certain moral failure by the United States as well as a disregard for international humanitarian law that the United States has not been more forceful in its response [to the Saudi crimes]."

Meanwhile, the other panelist on Press TV's program, Michael Lane said that the United States is mostly paying lip service to Yemeni casualties and is not taking any real action to influence the Saudis to stop their crimes.  

He is of the opinion that the Saudis targeted the funeral in Sana’a to “decapitate” the entire Houthi movement.

The analyst further mentioned that the United States and Saudi Arabia have the same “objective” of installing a Yemeni regime that is friendly or at least neutral to both of them.  

“What they [the Saudis] cannot accept is a regime in Yemen that is hostile to them. They believe the alternatives at this point are hostile to their interests. Therefore, there is no end in sight as they continue to prosecute the campaign and they think that it is easier to prosecute a campaign across the border in Yemen against their perceived enemies than it is to have the campaign at the border as the enemies are knocking on their backdoor,” he said.  

According to the analyst, the situation where Saudi Arabia is sort of an unquestioned partner of the United States is beginning to unravel, but it is still important for US foreign policy to keep the Riyadh regime stable and safely in power.

Saudi Arabia has come under mounting international criticism in recent months over the civilian death toll in its aerial campaign against Yemen.

Following Saturday’s carnage, White House National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said that Washington would review its support for the Saudi war on its southern neighbor.

Yemen has seen almost daily military attacks by Saudi Arabia since late March 2015, with internal sources putting the toll from the bloody aggression at above 10,000. The Saudi offensive was launched to crush the Houthis and their allies and restore power to resigned president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

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