Okeil: The international community must abide by the provisions of the Security Council resolution, designate the Houthis as a terrorist group and take the necessary measures to prevent the recurrence of these terrorist attacks

Mennatalla Abdelraouf: The Houthi militias adopt a systematic terrorist behavior that must be countered by all means

Maat for Peace, Development and Human Rights strongly condemns the terrorist attacks carried out by the Houthi militia on civilians and civilian objects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in a flagrant violation of all international laws and covenants.

Today, Sunday, March 20, 2022, the Houthi militia launched hostile attacks targeting a water desalination plant in Al-Shaqeeq and an Aramco distribution station in Jizan. The targeted sites also included the electricity transmission station in Dhahran Al-Janoub, the National Gas and Industrialization Company's Khamis Mushait Gas Station, and Aramco's Liquified Gas Plant in Yanbu. The strikes have caused physical damage to facilities, civilian vehicles and residential homes as a result of the targeting and the scattering of fragments.

In this regard, Maat reiterates its call to the international community to take immediate and decisive measures to stop these aggressive acts, which target vital and civil installations and threaten the security of neighboring countries. Maat also calls for the need to provide international protection for the Yemeni people, who live under the Houthi militia and suffer from difficult humanitarian conditions in light of the restriction of access to humanitarian aid by the Houthi militia.

In this context, Ayman Okeil, the international human rights expert and president of Maat, stressed that the recent attack of the Houthi militia represents a direct threat the region’s security and stability, in addition to the fact that these terrorist attacks represent a flagrant violation of the principles and rules of international law, stressing that the targeting of civilian objects by the Houthis is incompatible with the rules of international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 and Additional Protocol I of 1977. Okeil also stressed the responsibility of international bodies to take decisive actions that would deter the militias from their provocative actions that undermine regional peace and security in the region.

Okeil further added that the international community need to abide by the provisions of Security Council Resolution 2624, which designates the Houthis as a terrorist group and classifies them under the targeted arms embargo, and called on the UN Security Council to hold an emergency special session to discuss the Houthi aggression and take the necessary measures to prevent the recurrence of these terrorist attacks.

Okeil affirmed the international collective responsibility in confronting terrorist crimes, and the importance of sincere international solidarity in combating and clearly condemning these grave violations, and adopting a more effective strategy in confronting terrorism wherever it occurs, drying up its sources, and punishing the countries supporting it.

For her part, Mennatalla Abdelraouf, Vice President of Maat and Director of the International Human Rights Mechanisms Unit, said that the Houthi militias continue to ignore international law and threaten peace and the right to life. Abdelraouf added that the Houthi militia has intensified its recent terrorist activities, such as the killing of journalist Rasha Al Harazi, the targeting of Dubai and Abu Dhabi airports, and the repeated attacks on Saudi, in a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, which confirms the militias' systematic terrorist behavior that must be confronted by all means.