DUBAI: Yemeni Prime Minister Ma’een Abdulmalik described a Houth missile attack on a gas station in Yemen’s Marib as an extremist crime intended to foil the ongoing diplomatic efforts to make peace.
The Houthis launched a ballistic missile that struck a gas station in the Rawdha neighborhood in the central city of Marib, on Saturday, killing at least 21 people - including a 5-year-old girl - according to Ali Al-Ghulisi, the provincial governor’s press secretary.
The Iran-backed militia then launched an explosive-laden drone which destroyed two ambulances that had rushed to the area to tend to the injured.
“The Houthi militia’s terrorist attack on the gasoline station once again demonstrated that these criminal gangs are bloody, warmongers desperately seeking to spoil any effort aims to establish peace,” he said.
Abdulmalik’s statements came during his phone call with the governor of Marib Maj. General Sultan al-Erradah, Yemeni news agency Saba News reported.
The country’s Minister of Information Muammar Al-Eryani said the attack that killed 21 civilians is an extension of the continuous targeting by the Houthi militia of residential neighborhoods in Marib, with the aim of causing the largest number of casualties.
The Egyptian foreign ministry condemned the attack and expressed heartfelt condolences to the Yemeni people, the government and families of the victims.
The Arab Parliament called on the international community to intervene urgently and take decisive measures to stop these extremist crimes.
It added that the Houthis should be held accountable for their continued violations of the peace and truce efforts imposed by the Stockholm Agreement.
Kuwait and Bahrain also expressed strong condemnation of the missile attacks carried out by the Houthi militia in the city of Marib, including the attack on the gas station, which led to the death of dozens.
“These attacks are a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and all moral values and principles,” Bahrain’s foreign ministry said in a statement published in the state news agency BNA.
The Bahraini Foreign Ministry called on the international community to condemn the attacks of the Houthi militia, expressing deep condolences and sympathy to the families of the victims.
Meanwhile, the Rights Radar Organization for Human Rights, based in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, called on the United Nations to adopt an independent international investigation to assess the continuing risks as a result of the continuous targeting of civilians by the Houthi militia.
In a statement, the organization condemned the horrific massacre committed by the Houthis against civilians in Marib, stressing that the massacre committed by the Houthi militia shows that the targeting was intentional and planned to cause the greatest amount of damage and victims.
The organization called on the international community to put an end to the targeting of civilians in Marib, Hodeidah and Taiz, most of which amount to war crimes.
