Government spokesman Dr. Omar Al-Bukhaity said that the Saudi enemy’s criminal escalation against Yemen would trigger a stronger and more forceful Yemeni response, in line with the equation of “escalation for escalation and siege for siege,” and in accordance with Yemen’s legitimate right to self-defense.

In a statement to the Yemeni News Agency (SABA), Al-Bukhaity said Saudi Arabia’s accusation that Yemen had targeted Mecca—the “lie of the age”—had been met with growing global awareness that lying, fabrication and slander have become an established Saudi policy.

He said the Saudi enemy had carried out 732 airstrikes against the Yemeni people using warplanes operating from the Khamis Mushait and Taif air bases, describing this as evidence of its determination to continue shedding Yemeni blood and violating Yemen’s sovereignty.

Al-Bukhaity also accused Saudi Arabia of resorting to “ISIS-style tactics” in attempts to carry out bombings targeting civilians in Sana’a, calling this a reflection of what he described as the enemy’s brutal disregard for innocent lives.

He warned that further Saudi crimes would increase the cost it would have to pay, stressing that Yemen would not hesitate to deliver “the harshest blows” against the aggressor to deter further escalation. “Everyone knows that Yemen acts before it speaks,” he said.

Al-Bukhaity further asserted that the world had come to recognize the precision of Yemeni strikes and the armed forces’ strict religious and moral discipline. He attributed any civilian casualties on the Saudi side, if any, to what he described as reckless Saudi air-defense operations that allegedly cause missiles to fall on civilians after failing to intercept Yemeni missiles.

He concluded by addressing the Saudi regime directly: “Stop your falsehoods, your bombing, your crimes and your siege against the Yemeni people, which has continued for 12 years. If you do not, then bear the consequences—for the one who starts the aggression bears the greater blame.”