Saudi airstrikes violate Yemen’s UN-brokered brief truce
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This photo shows a destroyed bridge following a Saudi airstrike in the Harf Sufyan district of the Yemeni northern province of Amran on October 20, 2016. (Photo by al-Masirah TV network)
Two separate deadly Saudi airstrikes against civilian sites in Yemen’s Northwestern Provinces of Amran and Sa'ada have broken the United Nations-brokered ceasefire in the war-ravaged Arabian Peninsula state.
Three people lost their lives on Thursday, when Saudi fighter jets struck a bridge in the Harf Sufyan district of Amran province, located 53 kilometers northwest of the capital Sana’a, Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Masirah television network reported.
Another three people were martyred in the Baqim district of Sa’ada when Saudi warplanes struck a residential building.
The fatal aerial attacks came on the same day that Yemeni army soldiers and fighters from allied Popular Committees targeted a gathering of militiamen loyal to the resigned Yemeni President, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, in the Maslub district of the country's northern province of Jawf.
Informed sources, requesting anonymity, said at least 15 Saudi-backed gunmen were killed in the attack, while 30 others suffered injuries.
A 72-hour ceasefire went into effect in Yemen shortly before Wednesday midnight to allow aid to reach families trapped in towns and villages cut off by months of fighting between warring factions.
In another development, United Nations sanctions monitors have told the Security Council that the October 8 Saudi airstrikes against a crowded funeral ceremony in Sana’a was in breach of international humanitarian law.
The UN officials said they found “in respect of the second airstrike, the Saudi Arabia-led coalition violated its obligations in respect of hors de combat and the wounded in this 'double tap' attack.”
International humanitarian law prohibits attacks against hors de combat - fighters incapable of defending themselves - the wounded, and medical personnel and units.
“The second airstrike, which occurred three to eight minutes after the first airstrike, almost certainly resulted in more casualties to the already wounded and the first responders," the UN monitors said.
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