Saudi military violates human rights in Yemen: UN report

A confidential UN report says Saudi Arabia has deliberately bombed civilian targets in Yemen and killed children during an ongoing military campaign against its impoverished neighbor.

The report by a panel of UN experts cited a Saudi airstrike on a village house in southern Lahij Province on May 25 in which six civilians, including four children, were killed.  

“It is almost certain that the civilian house was the deliberate target of the high explosive aircraft bombs,” said the report presented to the UN Security Council on Thursday.

The report stresses that Saudi Arabia and its allies have failed to take precautions and thus violated international humanitarian law while conducting aerial raids across Yemen.

The UN report also accused Yemen’s Ansarullah fighters and their allies of concealing their equipment near a civilian area in Ta’izz Province in one instance, saying such moves endanger the civilian population.

The new report comes as experts are still conducting detailed investigations into three more Saudi airstrikes against civilian targets across various parts of Yemen.

The Saudi regime has been defiant amid calls by the UN and prominent rights bodies to stop its violations against civilians in Yemen.

On Thursday, spokesman of a Saudi investigation task force Mansour bin Ahmed Mansour largely defended a series of deadly airstrikes on markets, clinics and a wedding in Yemen, citing the presence of armed force at the sites.

The official challenged rights groups and witnesses who say Saudi airstrikes in Yemen killed hundreds of civilians in the second half of 2015.

SS