Hawzah News Agency- this move is in line with consolidating the equation of "siege for siege and escalation for escalation," which the Yemeni armed forces have established with the aim of ending the aggression and lifting the unjust Saudi-imposed siege on Yemen that has lasted more than a decade.
In this context, Hamid Yahya Al-Rafiq, legal adviser to the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, stressed that the Saudi enemy's repeated armed aggressions against Yemeni territory provide the necessary legal basis for Yemen's adherence to the right of self-defense — a reference grounded in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, which recognizes states' right to self-defense in the event of an armed attack.
In an interview with the Ansarullah website, he explained that assessing the legitimacy of Yemen's response is based on the rules of international law governing the use of force, particularly the prohibition of aggression against the territorial integrity and political independence of states, as well as the rules of international humanitarian law governing military operations.
Al-Rafiq stressed that the legitimacy of any operation is linked to necessity and proportionality, and to the legitimacy of the objectives and means employed. The repetition and continuation of Saudi aggressions and the loss of life and damage to facilities and installations require that Yemeni operations be assessed within the framework of the right of self-defense aimed at stopping armed attacks and repelling and removing their dangers — not as retaliatory or punitive acts.
Al-Rafiq stated that the legal criteria for a military response include the occurrence of an armed attack, the necessity of using force to repel aggression, proportionality to the defensive objective, the designation of legitimate military targets, distinction between civilians and combatants and between civilian facilities and military objectives, and the adoption of possible practical precautions to reduce harm to civilians.
He stressed that the legitimacy of a response is not assessed by issuing general rulings about all operations, but by considering the conditions of each operation, its connection to the defensive objective and its adherence to the rules of international humanitarian law. Proving the right of self-defense does not automatically legitimize every military operation; rather, this remains contingent on the existence of necessity, proportionality and respect for the legal rules regulating the use of force.
Saudi Money Silences Humanitarian Organizations
Despite the documentation of hundreds of crimes committed in Yemen by international organizations — and the Saudi regime's placement on a blacklist in 2016 by then-UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon over horrific violations and crimes against women and children in Yemen, and its re-listing in 2017 by current Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for the same reasons — the UN continues to deal with the Yemen crisis with double standards. While the UN condemns Yemen's legitimate response to the Saudi enemy, it closes its eyes to the escalation of aggression and the targeting of civilians — something that has undermined the UN's credibility and raised questions about its adherence to the principles of justice and human rights it claims to defend.
On this point, legal activist Samad Al-Siyadi stressed that the Saudi-American coalition's aggression has committed hundreds of documented crimes at the local and international levels over the years of aggression against Yemen, targeting purely civilian sites and gatherings, including local markets, halls and wedding parties, mourning ceremonies and residential areas — actions that, under the rules of international humanitarian law, are in many cases assessed as war crimes.
In an interview with the Ansarullah website, Al-Siyadi reviewed the most prominent massacres addressed by reports of the UN Panel of Eminent Experts and international legal organizations, including the Great Hall massacre in Sanaa on October 8, 2016, the "Wahjah" wedding near Mokha in September 2015, the "Sanban" wedding in Dhamar and the "Bani Qais" wedding in Hajjah, in addition to the targeting of the markets of Khamis Mstaba, Dhiyan, Al-Maqna and Al-Aflaf.
Regarding the education sector, he explained that bombardment and destruction have put more than 2,500 educational facilities out of service, citing as examples the targeting of the "Jumaa bin Fadhel" school in Saada, the "Al-Ra'i" girls' school in Sanaa and the "Al-Falah" school in Nehm, and the resulting casualties and deprivation of students from education.
The human rights activist noted that the toll of victims has exceeded 60,000 martyrs and wounded, most of them women and children, and has led to permanent disabilities and economic damage to weekly markets and rural areas.
Al-Siyadi held Western arms companies, particularly American and British, responsible for complicity in arming the aggression, and criticized the political and financial pressures that have prevented justice for Yemeni victims.
He called for an independent and transparent international investigation and the establishment of an international criminal investigation mechanism to ensure accountability for those responsible for these crimes and their non-impunity from punishment, stressing that the files of the massacres will remain incriminating documents against those who pursue the perpetrators, financiers and arms suppliers.
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