Sana'a: For more than a century, the Yemeni blood spilled in the valley of 'Tanomah' has told the story of deep-rooted historical hatred, changing only in the names of the victims and the types of weapons used. The massacre, hidden for decades in the shadows of oblivion, has resurfaced amid the rubble of bombed houses and the torn bodies of children in Attan, Sunban, Marran, Mustaba, and elsewhere, confirming to the world that 'March 2015' was merely a bloody continuation of 'Tanomah 1923.'
According to Yemen News Agency, the same criminal mentality that shed the blood of three thousand Yemeni pilgrims is the one that later massacred Yemenis in funeral halls, wedding ceremonies, and school buses, in a continuous pattern of aggression exposing the hostility of the Saudi regime, which went beyond bloodshed to economically besiege Yemenis and wage war even against their livelihoods.
Between the valley once stained with the blood of pilgrims and the Yemeni cities now under siege, a single thread of blood connects the past with the present, making the recent aggression another, even more brutal, chapter in the record of Al Saud's massacres and attempts to erase Yemeni identity.
In 1341 AH (1923), Saudi forces committed a brutal massacre against more than three thousand Yemeni pilgrims in the valleys of 'Tanomah' and 'Sudwan' in the Yemeni region of Asir. The pilgrims, dressed in ihram and answering the call of Allah to perform the fifth pillar of Islam, were targeted in cold blood while completely defenseless.
The painful anniversary of the Tanomah Massacre revives deep wounds in the Yemeni memory. It was not merely an isolated incident, but an early indication of the aggressive nature adopted by the Saudi regime toward Yemen, its people, land, and identity.
The incident embodied the hostility toward Yemen upon which the Saudi entity was founded. Its aggression extended beyond military attacks to include territorial encroachment through expansion into border areas, imposing guardianship through interference in Yemen's sovereign decisions, and economic warfare aimed at keeping Yemen trapped in dependency by disrupting vital institutions and infrastructure.
The launch of the aggression on March 26, 2015, was therefore not surprising, but rather the peak of escalation in an attempt to reimpose domination that had begun to fade with the dawn of the September 21 Revolution in 2014, led by Sayyed Abdulmalik Bader al-Din al-Houthi. What Yemen has endured since then - bombardment and blockade - is nothing but a modern and expanded version of the 'Tanomah Massacre,' in a failed attempt to subjugate the Yemeni people.
The continuing aggression against the Yemeni people has produced humanitarian consequences described by international reports as 'the worst in the world.' Yet at the same time, it has demonstrated the failure of the Saudi gamble on time and overwhelming force. Today, the Saudi regime faces a new Yemeni reality, armed with historical awareness and an unbreakable will, proving that the blood of the victims of Tanomah and the victims of the March 2015 aggression has become the fuel driving the battle for independence and sovereignty.
Recalling this massacre is not merely about reopening the pains of the past, but about reviving a Yemeni consciousness resistant to distortion - a consciousness that realizes the enemy of yesterday remains the enemy of today, and that the blood of the Yemeni pilgrims killed in the mountains of Asir is the same blood that today gives rise to victory, dignity, and honor on the fronts of steadfastness.
The 'Tanomah Massacre,' from 1923 to March 2015, will remain a living testimony to the moral and ethical downfall of the Saudi regime. The blood of the great martyrs, unjustly and brutally shed, will continue to illuminate the Yemeni people's sacred struggle until full sovereignty is restored and every inch of the home is cleansed of foreign domination and dependency.