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Amnesty warns Saudi not to retaliate following strike on oil facility 

September 18, 2019 at 3:14 pm

A gas flame is seen in the desert near the Khurais oilfield, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on 27 September 2016 [REUTERS/Ali Jarekji/File Photo]

Amnesty International on Monday warned the US against taking military action in response to the attack on Saudi oil facilities which it said only exacerbate further instability and suffering in the region.

The human rights group’s Secretary-General, Kumi Naidoo, told AFP: “We need to stop the bleeding right now, and any talk of military intervention right now will only exacerbate a bad situation.”

Condemning the bombing of hospitals and water infrastructure, Naidoo stressed that conflict must be resolved using political will.

“Sadly, it appears that some governments, if they are allied with the United States, like Saudi Arabia, they can get away with murder — literally murder,” he added in reference to the war in Yemen, currently in its fifth year.

Naidoo also invoked a reminder of the illegal 2003 US invasion of Iraq which was falsely predicated on the alleged stockpiling of weapons of mass destruction which “created the catastrophe we have, not just in Iraq but in neighbouring countries.”

It is believed that almost 100,000 people have lost their lives in the Yemen war which has also created what the UN has deemed “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis”.

Both the US and Saudi Arabia are laying blame for the attacks on Iran, which has denied the accusations. American President Donald Trump tweeted on Sunday that the country was “locked and loaded” for a potential conflict with Iran, if it’s proven to be complicit.

On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan indirectly suggested that Saudi Arabia war on Yemen was the cause of the retaliatory attack and therefore Riyadh is to blame for Saturday’s attack.

READ: US seeks UN action on Saudi attacks despite likely Russian opposition