Latest Saudi Strike Kills Five Yemen Civilians as Calls Grow for War Crimes Panel

Attack Targeted a Checkpoint, Set Fire to a Gas Station

Some 60 different human rights bodies have issued a joint call today for the UN to establish an investigatory panel to probe human rights abuses and war crimes by Saudi Arabia in its two and a half year long war against Yemen. Human Rights Watch appears to be spearheading the effort.

The call comes after the latest in a series of strikes killing civilians in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, where Saudi warplanes attacked a police checkpoint. The strike killed two police manning the checkpoint, and hit a taxi cab, killing five civilians.

That’s just part of the overall toll, according to some accounts, as one of the strikes also hit a gas tanker, and set fire to a nearby gas station, causing an explosion which prevented any rescue workers from reaching the area and trying to save anyone.

Saudi Arabia had two different incidents of airstrikes killing civilians in Sanaa last week as well, leveling a hotel in one case and then destroying an apartment building on the second occasion, which they insisted was a “technical error.”

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.