Saudi Arabia’s Joint Incident Assessment Team (JIAT), the organization responsible for investigating incidents of civilian deaths in Yemen, have consistently defended the killings. A new press conference on Sunday continued that trend.
Addressing five incidents over the course of the war, the JIAT once again insisted that the Saudis and their allies are not deliberately targeting civilians. Of the five cases, they said four “complied with international laws.”
The claims of compliance are built around the idea that the civilians were “valid military targets.” This was echoed in last week’s attack killing 50 civilians on a school bus, which they also insisted was entirely legitimate and legal under international law.
Of the five incidents, only one was determined by JIAT to be an attack that “mistakenly” killed civilians, and suggested that the families of the victims be compensated.