Saudi Arabia’s airstrikes against targets across northern Yemen have been a consistent reality since the early 2015 invasion, and civilians have borne the brunt of the strikes from the start. Escalating attacks, however, suggest a disturbing trend, with the UN High Commission for Human Rights expressing deep concern.
That’s because not only are the civilian death tolls mounting, with 136 people killed in airstrikes in 11 days, but the nature of the strikes has been increasingly troubling, suggesting less and less Saudi care in targeting.
One strike hit a hospital in Hodeidah, while another hit a carload of women returning home from a wedding. Still another hit a TV station. The biggest problem, however, was the December 13 strike against a prison in Sanaa.
The UN assessed 43 killed in the Saudi attack on the prison, and every single one of them was claimed to have been loyal to pro-Saudi forces. UN spokesman Rupert Colville said this was probably a mistake, and that “they weren’t intended to kill prisoners from their own side.”
But they did, and they killed a lot of them. The fact that bombing a prison full of allies would kill some of those allies shouldn’t have been lost of the Saudis, and further adds to doubts about Saudi targeting in general.
The good news is the Donald “demanded” the Saudis lift the blockade. In the Donald’s perfect world the Saudis would only be bombing well fed Yemen civilians.
Perhaps the UN Commission on Human Rights could do something more than “expressing deep concern”. For instance does it really seem appropriate for Saudi Arabia to have a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council for 2016-2019? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Human_Rights_Council#Saudi_Arabia
What is Saudi Arabia even doing in Yemen? What is the reason for their intervention?