In a meeting with tribal leaders and locals in the northern Yemeni province of Hajjah via videoconference on Wednesday, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said Yemen has been withstanding the “barbaric US and Saudi-led aggression” for eight years, adding the country has gone through “tough stages and major challenges.”
Saudi Arabia and its allies launched a devastating war on Yemen in March 2015 to reinstall the former Riyadh-friendly regime and crush the Ansarullah resistance movement, but failed to achieve either of the goals.
The Saudi-led coalition killed and injured hundreds of thousands of Yemenis with arms and logistics supplied by the US and other Western states and left the country in ruins.
Houthi praised popular forces in Yemen for their “enormous contribution” to the battle against the aggression, saying ordinary people have been at the forefront of the struggle.
He said the Western-backed coalition targeted ordinary people’s livelihood and imposed a blockade on the cities and targeted them at wedding or mourning ceremonies.
“Yemeni people left the enemy in shock and despair and left the bitter taste of hopelessness in their mouth. They surprised the world and now the world has realized how great the people in Yemen are,” the Yemeni leader said.
