REGARDLESS of Saudi leadership’s efforts especially the wide-ranging initiative launched earlier this year to bring peace to Yemen, deliver aid to its people and end the war there.
Houthi rebels, unfortunately, are sticking with their policy of hostility and attacking different facilities and installation within the Kingdom.
In the latest condemnable attack, Houthi rebels struck the Saudi border town Jizan, resulting in two deaths and injuries to seven others.
According to Saudi officials, a military projectile fell on a commercial store on a main street that also damaged cars and shops.
There cannot be any justification for such a cowardly attack on innocent civilians.
Indeed Saudi Arabia has the right to defend itself yet it must be ensured that this does not cause any collateral damage but targets rebels hideouts.
The Saudi leadership in fact is being forced for retaliation as according to a report published recently, Houthi rebels predominantly attacking civilian locations doubled during the first nine months of current year compared to same period a year earlier.
According to a research by a US think tank, Houthis are orchestrating an increasingly intense irregular warfare against Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Gulf region using sophisticated cruise and ballistic missiles.
Given the miseries of Yemeni people, better sense should prevail.The very acts of Houthi rebels and their supporters are further aggravating the situation in Yemen, which is witnessing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Estimates on the number of fatalities caused by the conflict vary widely, though at least some 130,000 have been killed over the course of the conflict.
By contrast, the UN estimates the conflict could claim 377,000 lives by end of the year, both through direct and indirect consequences of war such as disease and starvation.
Whilst the world community should come forward in a big manner to protect the Yemeni people from starvation and disease, Houthi rebels must review their hostile policy and move towards peaceful resolution of the conflict.
This is in the interest of Yemeni people and the whole region.We are confident that Saudi leadership will always be forthcoming for a peaceful outcome.
