UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today issued a statement condemning the weekend Saudi airstrike against the southern Yemeni city of Aden, which hit a UN compound causing substantial damage and injuring a UN guard.
Ban insisted civilian targets, particularly UN aid facilities, were supposed to be inviolable, and said the incident underscored how important it was for both sides to return to ceasefire negotiations and resolve the war as soon as possible.
Saudi officials haven’t discussed the attack so far, but have often hit civilian targets in their three-month war against Yemen, usually causing far more casualties than this, so issuing a statement on the attack probably isn’t considered a top priority.
The Saudis declared war back in March, demanding to reinstall the former Hadi government in power in Yemen. Hadi aides have recently ruled out a return to peace talks, saying there is nothing to talk about until the Shi’ite Houthis, the target of the Saudi war, surrender all the cities to them.