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HRW slams Saudi’s killing of civilians in Yemen

Friday, 27 November 2015 4:47 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 27 November 2015 6:25 PM ]

Actors playing the role of airstrike victims, lie on the ground as they perform a sketch during a protest against Saudi air strikes, in Yemen's capital Sana’a, November 8, 2015. (Photo by Reuters)

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has slammed Saudi Arabia’s targeting of civilians in Yemen, saying the kingdom and its supporters in the West have failed to provide answers over the killing of civilians in the impoverished country.

In a 73-page report issued on Friday, the HRW said Saudi fighter jets carried out at least 10 “apparently unlawful” airstrikes in Yemen between April and August 2015, killing 309 civilians and wounding another 414 people.

The report said neither Saudi Arabia nor the United States, which has provided intelligence and logistical assistance for the attacks, have launched an investigation into the civilian deaths in Yemen.

For more than seven months, Saudi Arabia has been targeting residential areas across Yemen in a purported bid to block the advance of the ruling Ansarullah movement and bring back to power Riyadh’s protégé Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi.

A Yemeni artist hangs artwork on a wall of a building destroyed by Saudi airstrikes as a tribute to people who were killed in the attacks, in the capital Sana'a, on October 8, 2015. (AFP Photo)

Washington has supported the deadly attacks, with its military units in the Middle East are providing intelligence to the Saudis on the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, who are known as the Houthis. Earlier this month, the US officials approved the sale of USD1.29 billion worth of bombs to renew Saudi Arabia’s arsenal.

The HRW report suggested that the attacks against the civilians had been deliberate and indiscriminate.

“Human Rights Watch found either no evident military target or that the attack failed to distinguish civilians from military objectives,” the report said, adding that the attacks took-place in areas under the control of Houthis including Sana’a, Amran, Hajjah, Hodaydah and Ibb and hit residential houses, market places, a factory, and a civilian prison.

The illegal Saudi air campaign, which began on March 26, has killed more than 7,500 people, according to Yemeni sources, while the United Nations put the death toll at 5,700, saying more than half of those killed were civilians.

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