UN Condemns Sanaa Massacre, US Calls on Houthis to End ‘Barbarism’

Houthi gunmen deploy on the streets on Sunday after the Sanaa execution. (Reuters)
Houthi gunmen deploy on the streets on Sunday after the Sanaa execution. (Reuters)
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UN Condemns Sanaa Massacre, US Calls on Houthis to End ‘Barbarism’

Houthi gunmen deploy on the streets on Sunday after the Sanaa execution. (Reuters)
Houthi gunmen deploy on the streets on Sunday after the Sanaa execution. (Reuters)

The United Nations and the US condemned the execution of nine Yemenis by Iran-backed Houthi militias in a public square in Sanaa.

On Saturday, the Houthis publicly executed nine people in Tahrir Square in central Sanaa after accusing them of complicity in the killing of former prominent member Saleh al-Samad.

Samad, who was the head of the Houthis’ so-called supreme political council, was killed in an airstrike by the Arab coalition in the port city of Hodeidah on Yemen’s west coast in April 2018.

While hundreds of their gunmen mobilized to witness the execution, the Houthis posted pictures and video footage of the event to intimidate opponents, according to Yemeni human rights activists.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he “deeply regrets” the executions, including a person who, according to information, was a minor at the time of his arrest.

Guterres said the trial in which the nine were convicted and sentenced to death did not meet “the requirements of fair trial and due process.”

The spokesman for the Secretary-General, Stephane Dujarric, said that Guterres opposes the death penalty in all circumstances.

The Secretary-General reiterates that “international law sets stringent conditions for the application of the death penalty, including compliance with fair trial and due process standards as stipulated under international law.”

He urgently calls on all parties and authorities to adopt a moratorium on the carrying out of the death penalty.

The Secretary-General urges all actors to cease the violence. He encourages the Yemeni parties to engage with the UN in good faith and without preconditions to reinvigorate political dialogue to find a peaceful negotiated settlement to the conflict that meets the legitimate demands and aspirations of the Yemeni people.

The US Charge D’affaire in Yemen, Cathy Westley, called the trial “sham” that followed “years of torture and abuse” of the executed people.

“This outrageous action is another example of the Houthi indifference to basic human rights ... This barbarism must end,” Westley said in a message posted on the embassy’s Twitter account.

The Arab Parliament condemned the Houthis’ ongoing human rights violations against the Yemeni people, especially the right to life.

The parliament stressed the need for international solidarity to deter the terrorist militias that disregard international laws, warning that the international community’s inaction will encourage the Houthis to continue their terrorist acts.

It also called on all international human rights institutions to condemn this cowardly terrorist act and take the necessary legal measures to ensure the prosecution of the perpetrators.

Yemeni human rights activists fear that the militias will carry out other mass executions, especially as they issued dozens of death sentences against detainees held in their prisons on trumped up charges of “espionage” and supporting the legitimate government.

Yemeni Minister of Information Muammar al-Eryani had slammed the horrific crimes committed by terrorist Houthi militias against civilians.

He vowed that the cold-blooded murder of nine civilians “won’t be subject to the statute of limitations and go unpunished and that all militia leaders and elements involved in it will be brought to justice soon.”



Lebanon Security Source Says Hezbollah Official Targeted in Beirut Strike

Civil defense members work as Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut's Basta neighbourhood, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
Civil defense members work as Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut's Basta neighbourhood, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
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Lebanon Security Source Says Hezbollah Official Targeted in Beirut Strike

Civil defense members work as Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut's Basta neighbourhood, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
Civil defense members work as Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut's Basta neighbourhood, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

A Lebanese security source said the target of a deadly Israeli airstrike on central Beirut early Saturday was a senior Hezbollah official, adding it was unclear whether he was killed.

"The Israeli strike on Basta targeted a leading Hezbollah figure," the security official told AFP without naming the figure, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

The early morning airstrike has killed at least 15 people and injured 63, according to authorities, and had brought down an eight-storey building nearby, in the second such attack on the working-class neighbourhood of Basta in as many months.

"The strike was so strong it felt like the building was about to fall on our heads," said Samir, 60, who lives with his family in a building facing the one that was hit.

"It felt like they had targeted my house," he said, asking to be identified by only his first name because of security concerns.

There had been no evacuation warning issued by the Israeli military for the Basta area.

After the strike, Samir fled his home in the middle of the night with his wife and two children, aged 14 and just three.

On Saturday morning, dumbstruck residents watched as an excavator cleared the wreckage of the razed building and rescue efforts continued, with nearby buildings also damaged in the attack, AFP journalists reported.

The densely packed district has welcomed people displaced from traditional Hezbollah bastions in Lebanon's east, south and southern Beirut, after Israel intensified its air campaign on September 23, later sending in ground troops.

"We saw two dead people on the ground... The children started crying and their mother cried even more," Samir told AFP, reporting minor damage to his home.

Since last Sunday, four deadly Israeli strikes have hit central Beirut, including one that killed Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif.

Residents across the city and its outskirts awoke at 0400 (0200 GMT) on Saturday to loud explosions and the smell of gunpowder in the air.

"It was the first time I've woken up screaming in terror," said Salah, a 35-year-old father of two who lives in the same street as the building that was targeted.

"Words can't express the fear that gripped me," he said.

Saturday's strikes were the second time the Basta district had been targeted since war broke out, after deadly twin strikes early in October hit the area and the Nweiri neighbourhood.

Last month's attacks killed 22 people and had targeted Hezbollah security chief Wafiq Safa, who made it out alive, a source close to the group told AFP.

Salah said his wife and children had been in the northern city of Tripoli, about 70 kilometres away (45 miles), but that he had to stay in the capital because of work.

His family had been due to return this weekend because their school reopens on Monday, but now he has decided against it following the attack.

"I miss them. Every day they ask me: 'Dad, when are we coming home?'" he said.

Lebanon's health ministry says that more than 3,650 people have been killed since October 2023, after Hezbollah initiated exchanges of fire with Israel in solidarity with its Iran-backed ally Hamas over the Gaza war.

However, most of the deaths in Lebanon have been since September this year.

Despite the trauma caused by Saturday's strike, Samir said he and his family had no choice but to return home.

"Where else would I go?" he asked.

"All my relatives and siblings have been displaced from Beirut's southern suburbs and from the south."