From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sat Dec 05 2009 - 06:11:59 EST
Iran slams Saudi offensive into Yemen
Sat, 05 Dec 2009 07:49:00 GMT
A senior Iranian official has admonished the Saudi government for entering
the Yemen conflict by launching an offensive in northern parts of the
country.
Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani called into question the Saudi motive behind
its offensive into northern Yemen, which he said had exacerbated the already
worsening situation in Yemen.
"An unfair conflict has arisen in Yemen but I wonder how [our] Saudi
brothers who are Muslim do such a thing. They are in fact . killing
Muslims," Larijani said, citing negotiation as the only means to defuse the
crisis in Yemen.
He advised the Riyadh government against "inciting division" among Muslims."
If Saudis have rockets, why don't they use them against Israel but instead
drop them on poor innocent people .The Saudi government is Islamic and
should not excite division among Muslims."
Larijani reiterated that the Saudi involvement in Yemen fighting was a
"seditious act instigated by the enemies of Islam."
He said Saudi Arabia had financially supported Saddam Hussein's attack
against Iran in the 1980s for the simple reason that Iraqis were Arabs but
now refuses to intervene in issues related to other Arab nations.
"We told them (Saudis) not to collaborate with Saddam's dictatorial regime
but they retorted that Iraqis were Arabs. Why is it now that you don't
intervene to help in Lebanon and Palestine considering that they are mostly
Sunni [Arabs]? Why don't you confront the Zionist regime?" he retorted.
The Yemeni military has launched a major offensive, dubbed 'Operation
Scorched Earth', against Houthi Shias in the northern sector of the country.
The government accuses the fighters led by Abdul Malik al-Houthi of seeking
to restore the imamate system, which was overthrown in a 1962 coup.
The Houthis argue, however, that they are defending their rights against
government marginalization, a policy which they believe has been adopted
under pressure from Saudi-backed Wahhabi extremists.
Saudi Arabia has directly entered the military conflict by launching air
raids in northern Yemen, alleging that Houthi fighters have killed some
Saudi soldiers on the border.
Riyadh insists that it is targeting Houthi positions on 'Saudi territory',
but the Shia resistance fighters say Yemeni villages are being targeted with
deadly phosphorous bombs, which cause massive injuries and are banned under
the Geneva convention.
The Iranian government says it fully supports a united and stable Yemen and
has offered to help the country resolve the crisis, which has so far killed,
injured or displaced a large number of Yemeni Shias.
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