Congressman Pushes US Officials for Details on Recent Civilian Deaths in Yemen

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) has sent separate letters to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan seeking specific details on the US response, if any, to a pair of recent high-profile cases of civilians being killed in Saudi airstrikes in Yemen.

The two cases in question are the Saudi airstrike against a hospital run by Save the Children in northern Yemen, and a more recent attack against a school. Rep. Lieu is seeking clarification if either the school or hospital was on the US “no-strike” list.

The questions go deeper than that. Lieu also wants to know if the US provided its much-vaunted targeting assistance to the Saudis in either of the attacks, and if the Pentagon believes either of them violated the laws of armed conflict.

Lieu in particular focused on Pompeo’s statement claiming US help was reducing the casualties committed by the Saudis in the Yemen War. He asked Pompeo to show the “specific statistics” he claimed to have to back that up, and what part of US involvement specifically reduced killings.