Riyadh uses money to flout international law: Analyst

Press TV has conducted an interview with Saeed Shahabi, a political analyst in London, to discuss the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen amid the ongoing Saudi air raids.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: First of all, I’d like to get your opinion on the humanitarian situation within Yemen. We also have reports of dengue outbreaks in the country, there are piles of trash, people are dying, civilian infrastructure is being targeted, and all this while talks are being held in Geneva?  

Shahabi: We greet all the Muslims on the advent of the holy month of Ramadan, especially those in Yemen whose Ramadan has been destroyed by the ongoing onslaught by the Saudi aggressors.

There is absolutely no justification for the Saudis to attack a neighboring country. The human situation in Yemen is said to be reaching a wreaking point because there are no or very few outside help being allowed into the country. As we know, Yemen is being blockaded by the Saudi and their allies, and no airplanes or ships are allowed easily into the region which means that the people are fasting but at the same time they are being bombarded and will have no access to proper sanitation or proper medical care. The food is scarce as well as medicine and medical expertise. So all in all, the people of Yemen are facing their Ramadan, their fasting month in an absolutely tragic situation.

And the Saudis unfortunately - and I do not understand how a Muslim country behaves like that - has refused to allow a ceasefire to take place despite repeated calls from the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.   

Press TV: We are also seeing internationally banned weapons like cluster bombs and phosphorus munitions being used against the people of Yemen. Why do you think that has not been raised given the urgency it deserves in international platforms like the UN?

Shahabi: There are few sides to this problem. First of all, the Saudis, to me, they have been defeated morally, psychologically and politically because they have not really achieved any of the aims they had set for themselves before they started their aggression.

Number two, the weak international response to these excesses and to these violations also encourages rogue states like that of the Saudis to use anything. In Bahrain, the first thing they did was to help destroy mosques. Do mosques represent military targets? They did it and who protested against that? No one.

Now in Yemen they are doing the same. They are targeting people who are fasting, who are hungry. They are targeting children, they are targeting hospitals, they are targeting schools but who is protesting against that? Who is asking the Saudis not to use the cluster bombs which they have used in the province of Hajja and other places? Who has asked the Saudis? Where is the United Nations proper [response]? Where is the United States and the West which talk about the international law? Now who should really look after the international law and ensure that it is being followed and respected?

The Saudis have flouted all international laws simply because they have money and they can influence the West into submission, into silence. What is happening in Yemen is a shame on the human face and also it is a tragic situation whereby unfortunately the Muslims now are also fasting, more than one billion, and no finger is raised against the Saudi aggression.

Of course there is a lot of use of these cluster bombs, their photographs, the images that are coming from Yemen show that, but still the international community prefers to be silent rather than anger the Saudi dictatorship.

AHK/MKA

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