Saudi Airstrikes Destroy Yemen House, Kill 17 Civilians

For the third straight day, Saudi Arabia’s warplanes are caught up in a high-profile incident of civilian deaths in Yemen, this time attacking a house in the Nehm District near the capital of Sanaa. The attacks destroyed a house, and killed 17 civilians.

The large toll for a single home was the result of a “double-tap” incident, with the first strike collapsing the house on top of the family, and relatives from the neighborhood scrambling to try to rescue them, only for the rescuers themselves to be targeted in subsequent strikes.

This comes after a Sunday incident in which Saudi warplanes attacked a school, killing 10 children, and a Monday incident in which they destroyed a Doctors Without Borders hospital, killing 15 more civilians. Throughout the war the Saudis have been criticized for the huge civilian toll of their airstrikes, but the number of incidents seems to be growing dramatically in recent weeks.

With the UN General Assembly last year agreeing the Saudis could investigate themselves on war crimes, the coalition today announced they’ll set up an investigatory body to look into the recent strikes, though Saudi officials have already praised the killing of the children at the school, accusing them of being terrorists in training. So far, Saudi officials have justified every single incident of civilian killings in Yemen, or insisted they didn’t happen at all.