UN slams Houthis for killing civilians

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has denounced Tuesday’s attacks by Houthi militias in Najran, which killed seven civilians.
Ban expressed concern at the continued fighting in Yemen and also on the Saudi-Yemeni border since the end of peace talks in Kuwait on Aug. 6.
The German government also condemned the shelling of Najran and described the attack as an act of cowardice, which was only meant to destabilize the security situation in the region and undermine all peaceful efforts to end violence in Yemen.
Susan Shibley, the assistant spokesperson at the German Foreign Ministry, confirmed in a conference the support of her country for Saudi Arabia in its efforts to establish peace in Yemen.
The Pakistan Council of Scholars also condemned the attack.
Taher Mahmoud Al-Ashrafi, chairman of the association, said the Houthi militias were responsible for these terrorist attacks. 
He stated that any attack on Saudi Arabia was an attack on all Islamic nations as the Kingdom is the land of the Two Holy Mosques and a pillar of the Muslim Ummah. Al-Ashrafi expressed deep condolences to the Saudi government, the Saudi people and the families of the victims. 
Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawa in Pakistan, also denounced the strike and said that the enemies of Islam and Saudi Arabia were using the Houthis to implement their evil plans in order to threaten the peace and security of the Arab states.
He stressed that destabilizing the peace and sovereignty of Saudi Arabia cannot in any way be tolerated because the Kingdom is the center of the Muslim nation, and is also the land of the Two Holy Mosques.
He expressed deep condolences to the leadership and people of Saudi Arabia as well as to the families of the victims.
On Tuesday, the burials of the civilians took place in Najran.
The families of the five innocent martyrs — Faris Mohammed Al-Mansour, Hassan Masoud Al-Mansour, Ibrahim Hassan Al-Mansour, Hadi Ali Al-Shahrani and Khaled Hammad Al-Karbi — attended funerals for their loved ones in Najran, Habouna and Mishaliya.
Masoud Al-Mansour, father of one of the victims, said his son died for the good of the homeland. “We would all stand together against the Houthi criminals until victory is achieved,” he said.
He said his son died as a result of Houthi shelling on Tuesday afternoon as he was on the way to check on their car in the city’s industrial area.
Officials and families assembled at King Fahd Mosque in Habouna on Wednesday afternoon to attend the funeral of martyr Hadi Al-Shahrani. The cousin of the martyr said he had four children and was a retired police officer. He had gone with his son to the industrial city to repair his car when a missile flew over his son’s head and hit him directly. His son then tried to rush him to hospital, but had a crash while speeding which caused the vehicle to flip over on King Abdul Aziz Road in Al-Arsiyah. The son suffered injuries but his father died directly after being struck by the missile.
Hadi Hussein Al-Mansour’s home was hit by a Houthi shell, causing his wife to suffer a broken pelvis and shoulder as well as other injuries. She was taken first to King Khaled Hospital in Najran, and then to King Fahd Medical City in Riyadh where she remained for two months and underwent numerous operations. Her injuries also caused severe psychological troubles for her daughter who was separated from her mother for a long time.
Mutlaq Al-Anazi, the father of four-year-old Miteb, said his home in Al-Areesa in Najran was struck by a military shell launched from Yemeni territory. His son was playing in his room when he was wounded in his head by shrapnel. The child was taken to King Khaled Hospital in Najran for treatment and still suffers psychological problems as a result.
Martyr Khaled Al-Karbi was in the Najran industrial area when the missiles struck. He had been preparing for his wedding which was scheduled to take place in the next few days, but was killed by Houthi rebels. His uncle, Nasser Hassan Al-Karbi, said to a local paper that he received news of his nephew’s death while he was traveling abroad seeking medical treatment for his grandmother. He said that the news was a terrible shock to his family and is only bearable because the family knows that Khaled died a martyr.
At a time when the Saudi-led coalition and the legitimate government in Yemen have been working to protect civilians from military strikes, armed Houthi rebels and the ousted leader, Ali Abdullah Saleh, have not only been trafficking children and using them as war soldiers, but also using homes, mosques and schools as storage places for their weapons. 
They have also launched random strikes into neighborhoods and on civilians in the southern region of the Kingdom, resulting in numerous deaths, injuries, and the destruction of homes and property. Many of the victims are women and children as the strikes come in response to the advance of coalition forces.

Source: Arab News