ON the eighth anniversary of the September 21 Revolution, thousands of Yemeni people poured onto streets in the northwestern city of Sa’ada and other parts of the country to express their deep resentment over the continued acts of aggression and war crimes committed by the Saudi-led coalition against the Arabian Peninsula country.
The participants in the Sa’ada march waved national Yemeni flags, carried banners in condemnation of the Riyadh-led airstrikes, held up pictures of the former leader of the popular Ansarullah movement Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi and its current chief Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, and shouted slogans against the aggressors on Wednesday afternoon.
The demonstrators made it clear in a communiqué that the September 21 Revolution was an authentic uprising staged by the entire Yemeni society, and not provoked by any foreign country.
The statement pointed out that the revolution put an end to foreign tutelage, and its notable achievements turned it into one of the most honourable and successful revolts of the present world.
It underscored that Yemeni people from all strata of the society are tough-spirited and wholly committed to the path of resistance against the brutal Saudi-led aggression until full independence is restored, and every inch of Yemeni soil is liberated from the clutches of invaders.
The statement went on to commend the Ansarullah leader for his sagacity and prudence as to leading the Yemeni nation and thwarting the enemies’ conspiracies and seditious plots.
It also hailed the mass participation of all Yemeni tribes in the September 21 Revolution, emphasising that they made generous contributions in this regard in order to preserve their faith, values, pride, identity and moral principles.
The statement stressed that the National Salvation Government will spare no effort to improve the Yemeni nation’s livelihood through reforming state institutions and supporting social solidarity and popular fronts.
They called on the Riyadh-led coalition of aggression to stop its aggression and lift its crippling siege on Yemen.
The statement stressed that the September 21 Revolution cannot be constrained within Yemen’s borders, as it has serious impacts on regional and international developments, and maintains a firm and principled position vis-à-vis the Palestinian cause.
Participants in the Sa’ada march also lauded last week’s massive military parade in the capital Sana’a, and the strong steadfastness and resilience of Yemeni army troops and fighters from allied Popular Committees.
The parade was attended by His Excellency Field Marshal Mahdi al-Mashat, President of the Supreme Political Council – the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, and other military and security officers reflecting the quantitative development of the armed forces in their various units, classes, and formations.
The parade presented an operetta entitled ‘Freedom and Independence’, formed a national and unitary expressive painting, reflecting the extent of the steadfastness of the Yemeni people, their cohesion as well as the rootedness of the unity of the homeland in their depths and conscience.
The of joys of the Yemeni people on this national occasion, which constituted an important station in Yemen’s contemporary history in achieving freedom, pride, and dignity, and getting out of tutelage and external domination and the independence of political decision-making.
Around 35,000 forces from various military formations participated in the military parade, from the war and naval colleges, the aviation college, the air force, land and navy, air and coastal defence, special forces, military police, and al-Fath brigades.
The Yemeni armed forces displayed dozens of advanced missile systems, naval weapons, and air defences manufactured by the Military Industrialisation Authority as well as naval weapons, missiles, boats, and modern naval cruisers produced by the Yemeni Military Industries Authority.
The military parade included advanced weapons and air defence systems manufactured by the Yemeni Military Industries Authority during the period of aggression, which are systems that can neutralise hostile aircraft from the airspace, in addition to the three-generation winged Quds missiles, which are missiles manufactured by the local Yemeni military industries that reach the occupied Palestinian territories.
The parade also included a missile system, including Quds-3 winged missile manufactured by the Yemeni Military Industries Authority, intended to protect al-Quds al-Sharif and within al-Quds equation as well as several systems for multiple generations of unmanned aircraft, including the Waeed plane which has a range of more than 3,000 kilometres.
In conjunction with the parade, drones, attacking aircraft, and helicopters roamed the skies of the capital Sana’a in a scene that reflects the readiness of the armed and security forces to protect the homeland, its capabilities, and its national gains.
In the military and security parade, symbolic companies of military communications units, central support, armoured vehicles, submarines, thunderbolts, shields, eastern Marib brigades, air defence forces, coastal defence, central security, and emergency services participated in the military and security parade.
The military and security parade also included the entry of vehicles carrying locally-made missiles of all kinds, which reflect the experiences and capabilities of the Yemeni army in creating an advanced deterrent weapon capable of confronting the enemy with its military arsenal.
In the military parade, the Yemeni armed forces revealed new strategic weapons that had not been disclosed before, some of which entered service soon, and some of which were tested and not used yet.
The statement stressed that the September 21 Revolution cannot be constrained within Yemen’s borders, as it has serious impacts on regional and international developments, and maintains a firm and principled position vis-à-vis the Palestinian cause.
Meanwhile, the Yemeni security apparatus has frustrated Saudi-led coalition’s conspiracies, the Ansarullah chief has declared.
In 2014, the people of Yemen led a popular uprising against the Saudi-backed unpopular regime of Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi.
As protests gripped the country, the Ansarallah resistance movement on September 21 took control of the capital Sana’a following a rapid advance south from their northern stronghold of Sa’ada.
The massively popular protests were against the incompetent and corrupt regime in Sana’a backed by Riyadh.
In a bid to crush the resistance and reinstall the Hadi regime, a Saudi-led coalition launched a ferocious bombing campaign on the neighbouring Arab country barely six months later.
- Iran and Azerbaijan have meanwhile started construction works for a major motorway bridge over the border river of Aras amid plans to set up a new transit corridor connecting Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan through the Iranian territory.
The motorway bridge will be 220 metres in length and 25 metres wide and will finish in 18 months.
The Aras River runs for hundreds of kilometres along the borders between Iran and both Armenia and Azerbaijan. A report by the Iranian transportation ministry said that the new bridge will be constructed in the Agbend region in southwest Azerbaijan.
It said that the bridge is part of a project to establish a corridor inside Iran and along the Armenian border that will connect Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan.
Iran and China have reached $11 billion in bilateral trade in 8 months to August, the Chinese customs have said.
Such a corridor became necessary after a war between neighbours Azerbaijan and Armenia in 2020 which resulted in the liberation of Azeri territories formerly occupied by pro-Armenia forces.
Iran has indicated in the past that it would not tolerate any change in the historic status quo of areas that were once part of Iran and still have deep ties to the Iranian culture.
• Iran has started exports of coal to Pakistan, says a senior businessman, as the flood-hit country struggles with the aftermath of devastating floods that affected its energy production infrastructure.
Ali Rigi Mirjaveh, a member of Iran-Pakistan Joint Chamber of Commerce, said on Tuesday that no caps are currently being considered on exports of coal from Iran to Pakistan, however, Iranian coal exports to Pakistan could amount to 0.5 million metric tons per year.
Iran’s supply of coal to its eastern neighbour comes after floods in Pakistan destroyed a significant part of the country’s energy infrastructure and left many power plants short of fuel.
Rigi Mirjaveh said the Pakistani government has instructed businesses and traders to expand their imports of goods from Iran, adding that bilateral trade between the two neighbours could nearly triple in value terms in the near future to reach $5 billion per year.
Rigi Mirjaveh said Iran normally supplies petroleum products and agricultural goods to Pakistan in return for imports of rice and fruits from the country.
He said large-scale exports of apple and grape from Iran to Pakistan will start next month under a barter deal which allows imports of Pakistani kinnow to Iran.
