UN Official Calls for Probe of Deadly ‘Explosion’ in Yemeni Capital

After over four years of Saudi airstrikes killing enormous numbers of citizens across northern Yemen, what appears to have been a relatively straightforward incident in the capital of Sanaa this weekend hardly seemed surprising.

But the UN humanitarian coordinator is calling for an investigation into the attack, in which a warehouse “explosion” killed 11 civilians, including many children. This is because the Saudis are denying it was a Saudi airstrike, the most rational explanation for what happened.

Instead, what happened is being treated as some mysterious explosion out of nowhere, and while it isn’t uncommon for the Saudis to outright deny incidents they wee responsible for, or even suggesting some other faction that doesn’t have an air force was somehow responsible for an airstrike, it is uncommon for an incident of 11 killed to get this sort of attention anyhow.

Even the call for investigation is unlikely to clear anything up, as the UN has long since conceded that the Saudis can essentially investigate themselves in these cases, and anything embarrassing tends to disappear off the books long before any findings are published.