Riyadh Aims to Destroy Yemen's Historical Identity: Ansarullah Leader
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The leader of Yemen's Ansarullah Houthi movement condemned recent Saudi airstrikes on the Old City in the Yemeni capital of Sana'a, saying that the Saudi regime is seeking to obliterate the historical identity of the Arabian Peninsula country.
"The Saudi-Zionist attack on the archeological sites in the Old City of Sana'a is their forlorn attempt to obliterate the historical identity of Yemen," Abdul Malik al-Houthi said in a statement posted on his Twitter account.
In the early hours of June 12, the Old City of Sana'a, a UNESCO World Heritage site, was hit by a Saudi bombing raid.
Several houses and historic buildings were destroyed, causing human casualties. Among the buildings destroyed was the magnificent complex of traditional houses in the Al-Qasimi neighborhood, bordering an urban garden (Miqshama), near the Sailah water channel.
Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Irina Bokova condemned the attack, saying, "I am profoundly distressed by the loss of human lives as well as by the damage inflicted on one of the world's oldest jewels of Islamic urban landscape.
"I am shocked by the images of these magnificent many-storeyed tower-houses and serene gardens reduced to rubble," he was quoted by the official website of UNESCO as saying.