Weeks after President Donald Trump thanked Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince for his country’s use of U.S. military power, the U.S.-backed coalition bombed a wedding party in Yemen, killing at least 20 civilians including the bride. The number of casualties is expected to rise.
On social media, journalist Glenn Greenwald reminded readers of the U.S. connection to Saudi Arabia’s assault on the impoverished country, which has led to what the U.N. has called “the worst man-made humanitarian crisis of our time”—and which would not be possible without U.S. support.
https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/988377521833041920
https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/988378780979945472
The massacre at a wedding in Houthi-controlled Hajjah province took place just weeks after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) visited the U.S., posing for photos with wealthy business leaders and meeting with Trump at the White House.
The president praised Saudi Arabia for its support of the U.S. in the arms trade, “in the form of the purchase of the finest military equipment anywhere in the world,” and told the press that civilian casualties in the Saudi-led coalition’s war against the Houthi rebels in Yemen “did not come up in a major way.”
Saudi Arabia and the U.S. have so far managed to escape official blame for Yemen’s humanitarian crisis by setting up a panel to investigate strikes that have killed civilians, which largely cleared the coalition of responsibility.
Human Rights Watch has decried the panel for “failing to meet international standards regarding transparency, impartiality, and independence,”
More than 10,000 civilians have been killed in the war in Yemen since 2015, and another two million people have been displaced, according to the United Nations.
Top Photo | Doctors attend to people injured by airstrikes while attending a wedding in a village in northwestern Yemen, at a hospital in Hajjah. (Photo: Reuters)
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