Saudi-Backed Militants Kill ICRC Aid Worker with Multiple Gunshots in Yemen

Saudi-backed gunmen have shot dead a Lebanese aid worker of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Yemen’s southwestern city of Ta’izz and injured several others, Press T.V reported.

The Saudi mercenaries opened fire on Saturday on an ICRC vehicle in Zabab district in the west of the city, the website of Yemen’s al-Masirah satellite TV network reported.

A medical source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that the ICRC aid worker, Hanna Lahoud, was killed by multiple gunshots to his heart.

Most of Ta’izz is controlled by forces loyal to Yemen’s former Saudi-friendly government of president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, while the Houthi Ansarullah movement still holds many parts of the surrounding area.

“We are in mourning for one of our colleagues who was shot dead in #Yemen this morning. We are trying to find out more about this tragic incident,” ICRC Yemen tweeted.

The ICRC’s Middle East Director, Robert Mardini, said, “We condemn this brutal and apparently deliberate attack on a dedicated humanitarian worker.”

“We are all in shock. Hanna was a young man full of life and was widely known and liked. Nothing can justify Hanna’s murder and we are in deep mourning for our dear friend and colleague. Our hearts and thoughts are with Hanna’s loved ones and friends,” he added.

Years of mediatory efforts by the UN and other international players have failed to bring a peaceful solution to the ongoing conflict in Yemen. Meanwhile, a Saudi-led military intervention in the impoverished country has brought the nation to the brink of a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.

The Saudi aggression was launched in March 2015 in support of Hadi and against the country’s Houthi Ansarullah movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of an effective administration.

The offensive has, however, achieved neither of its goals despite the spending of billions of petrodollars and the enlisting of Saudi Arabia’s regional and Western allies.

The Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights announced in a statement on March 25 that the Saudi-led war had left 600,000 civilians dead and injured during the past three years.

The UN says a record 22.2 million people are in need of food aid, including 8.4 million threatened by severe hunger. A high-ranking UN aid official recently warned against the “catastrophic” living conditions in Yemen, stating that there was a growing risk of famine and cholera there.

R.S