Yesterday’s Saudi airstrikes against a water well drilling operation near the Yemeni capital city of Sanaa has continued to see its death toll rise through the past 24 hours, and now UN officials are confirming that at least 30 civilians were killed, with 17 others wounded.
The Saudis had claimed yesterday that the drilling site was a “Houthi facility” and that everyone slain was members of the Shi’ite Houthi movement, though this clearly was not the case. The UN faulted them for “unrelenting” attacks on civilians in Yemen.
Saudi Arabia’s air war in Yemen has been going on for 18 months now, with many thousands of civilians killed in the attacks. Saudi officials have accused aid groups of being biased against them for repeated criticism of the death tolls.
The well drilling operation was an example of Saudis using “double-tap” strategies to maximize death tolls, as they fired a single missile at the target first, and then when villagers mounted a rescue operation they launched another flurry of strikes, killing many more.
