al-houthi
© PressTVAbdul Malik al-Houthi, the leader of Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement, addresses the nation during a televised speech on October 9, 2016.
When Russia and Syria bomb al-Qaeda, the U.S. regime accuses them of war crimes and threatens to launch investigations. When Saudi Arabia deliberately targets hospitals and schools in Yemen - and when the Saudis recently targeted a funeral, killing, over 150 civilians and injuring over 500 more - U.S. officials see "little choice" but to continue supporting the Saudi regime. It's only a war crime when "we" allege that Russia does it. When "we" or our allies actually do it, it's okay. No wonder tens of thousands of Yemenis recently protested at the UN office in Sanaa.

The leader of the Houthis in Yemen, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, has publicly blamed the U.S. for the funeral massacre, calling the American regime "the first and foremost party responsible for the carnage," and noting that Washington and Riyadh's are accustomed to committing mass murder.
Those killing Yemenis are morally bankrupt, which has driven them to perpetrate any sort of crime. The Saudis are killing Yemenis by means of US weapons and military aircraft. They strike where Americans pinpoint and allow ... Saudis have a black criminal record of killing innocent people. They have a cruel and evil nature, and do not respect the independence of other countries. The Saudi king (Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud) would not have dared to attack Yemen if it had been without US consent.
He called on Yemenis to continue their resistance against the Saudi regime's attacks, and to carry out attacks in return.

The Iranian IRGC denounced both U.S. and Israeli complicity:
"Evidence and documents show that this crime has been committed under the operational control of the US and the Zionist regime [Israel]," Commander of the IRGC's Aerospace Division Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh said on Monday.

He added that the continuous presence of the US spy drones and surveillance aircraft such as MQ-1, RQ-4 and MQ-9, AWACS (Airborne Warning And Control System) command centers and refueling planes as well as frequent flights by American F-16, F-15, F-22 fighter jets, and US air logistics support for Riyadh prove that the military aggression against the oppressed Yemeni Muslims has been carried out directly by the US behind a Saudi façade.
...
Hajizadeh said the Israeli regime plays an undeniable role in the Sana'a carnage and added that the presence of Israeli spy planes and intelligence cooperation between Saudis and the Zionists showed an "evil plot" hatched and carried out against the Yemeni nation.
...
In a strongly worded statement on Sunday, the IRGC said the criminal act was a joint plot hatched by the United States, the Israeli regime and Saudi Arabia. "The US policies in the Muslim world are turning into a factor for the genocide and gradual massacre of Muslims," it said, adding, "There is no doubt that the crime of the bombardment of a funeral ceremony in Sana'a, which was attended by more than 1,500 defenseless Arab Muslims, has pushed the Saudi regime another big step closer to collapse."
The Houthis' ally, former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, urged the Houthis to mobilize along Saudi Arabia's border: "I call upon all members of the armed forces, security and popular committees...to head to the front, to the borders, to take revenge."

The Saudis' keep giving them a reason. Another airstrike today left 10 dead and 7 injured in Saada province.

The Houthis seem up for the task. But the Americans are known for their dirty tricks. See: Gulf of Tonkin redux? Pentagon sez: 'US Navy destroyer targeted by missiles from Yemen' - Houthi rebels deny involvement

But the Houthis aren't backing down, not by a long shot. According to Al-Masdar News, they just fired a ballistic missile at a base within Saudi Arabia:


Given the egregious war crimes committed on the U.S.'s watch, they are issuing some half-hearted condemnations, but nothing approaching the level of vitriol meted out to Russia and Syria.
In a statement regarding the horrific airstrike against the Yemeni people, the US National Security Council Spokesman Ned Price said in a statement, "US security cooperation with Saudi Arabia is not a blank check."

"Even as we assist Saudi Arabia regarding the defense of their territorial integrity, we have and will continue to express our serious concerns about the conflict in Yemen and how it has been waged," said Price. "In light of this and other recent incidents, we have initiated an immediate review of our already significantly reduced support to the Saudi-led coalition and are prepared to adjust our support so as to better align with US principles, values and interests."
What? No calls for an immediate investigation into war crimes?

Well, Russia and Canada are calling for an investigation (standard procedure, or at least, it should be). There's a reason the U.S. and UK are so hesitant to call a spade a spade. As Andrew Smith, spokesperson for the UK-based Campaign Against Arms Trade, told Sputnik:
What we've seen is a government continually putting arms exports ahead of human rights and offering largely uncritical support to the Saudi Arabian government, which is one of the most brutal dictatorships in the world that has unleashed a humanitarian crisis on Yemen.
...
Saudi Arabia can't be trusted to investigate itself for war crimes. It's a regime that treats its own people appallingly, a regime that has shown time and time again that it has contempt for human rights. There needs to be an independent international investigation, but what there needs to be is an end to arms sales and also an end to the bombing as well.
The Saudis have "requested" that the Houthis "pull back" from the border. According to U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner, John Kerry spoke with the Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Foreign Ministry, and agreed that it was a great idea:
The Secretary also noted, as part of the broader de-escalation effort, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's legitimate request that the Houthis pull back weapons from Saudi Arabia's border and respect its territorial integrity.
Just like a "no-fly zone" means "American-only fly zone", "de-escalation" simply means the U.S. and Saudi Arabia want the Houthis to stop fighting back, so the Saudis can bomb the hell out of them with the assistance of U.S. "advisers". No mention about the fact that Saudi Arabia is violating Yemen's territorial integrity...

Former diplomat J. Michael Springmann spoke to PressTV about the situation in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, calling the U.S.'s rhetoric a bunch of hot air:
"I frankly have to say that talk is cheap, it is easy to say something and it is very hard to do," Springmann said. Washington has time and again criticized its allies like Israel for their crimes against humanity but has never taken any measures to punish them, the analyst noted.
...
"In the past, the United States, according to the Congressional Research Service, has given the Saudis $115 billion worth of [military] equipment since January 2009," he noted. "These are fighter jets, helicopters, naval missiles, weapons, bombs, etc."

In August, the US State Department approved the sale of more than 130 Abrams tanks, 20 armored recovery vehicles and other equipment worth about $1.15 billion to Saudi Arabia.

"It is not a blank check. It is very simple to turn the check in half and feed it into a shredder," Springmann continued. "Stop giving the Saudis this money, stop giving the Saudis diplomatic cover."
We recently interviewed Mr. Springmann on the Truth Perspective. You can check it out here: The Truth Perspective: Thirty-plus years of Visas for Al-Qaeda: Interview with J. Michael Springmann

Update:

'Zero accountability': UN human rights boss repeats call for investigation into Yemen war crimes (RT)
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights [Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein] has again called for an international investigation into possible war crimes in Yemen, stressing that a deadly airstrike on a funeral service at the weekend indicates that violations have continued without repercussions.
...
"Since the beginning of this conflict in Yemen, weddings, marketplaces, hospitals, schools - and now mourners at a funeral - have been hit, resulting in massive civilian casualties and zero accountability for those responsible," he said in a statement.

Zeid attracted attention to the fact that for the second year in a row the UN Human Rights Council has turned down his calls "to take decisive action to create an international, independent investigative body to look into extremely serious alleged violations of international law, including possible war crimes, in Yemen."

"The Human Rights Council's inability to take decisive action by setting up an international investigation is contributing to a climate of impunity, and violations continue to occur on a regular basis," he said. According to the High Commissioner, the international community "has a legal and moral duty to react robustly to the increasingly horrific levels of civilian casualties in Yemen, just as it has in many other situations."
...
Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has defended Saudi Arabia's involvement in Yemeni affairs. "As for Saudi Arabia, which is a neighboring country, there are terrorist threats that are a concern for them," Ayrault said during his appearance on Radio France.
Ayrault is a spineless hypocrite. Like the Americans, he excuses Saudi war crimes while loudly condemning Syrian and Russian attacks on al-Qaeda in eastern Aleppo. If he applied his own logic to Syria, he would not have a problem: "there are terrorist threats that are a concern for Syria and Russia."

Photos are now available of the bomb used in the funeral massacre: a U.S.-made Mark 82, photographed by Neil Connery for ITV News. This may be a bridge too far for the Americans. It's really bad PR, and the U.S. risks being considered a "co-belligerent", which is rich because they are. They're the prime belligerent, and prosecution against military personnel are at least possible in theory, especially given the passage of JASTA.


Also, video of the attack. Warning: not for the faint of heart:

Notice what this war crime has that the alleged war crimes blamed on Russia and Syria do not: photo and video evidence of the strike itself, extensive coverage of the immediate damage, photos of the weapon used. It is only because of this evidence that authorities are saying anything - muted, at that. If there was even a HINT that Russia or Syria had done something as atrocious as this, the media outrage would be turned up to 11: UNSC emergency meetings, calls for war crimes tribunal, non-stop public condemnation. Oh wait, that's already happening - without the evidence.