Posted on 01/22/2022 5:24:35 AM PST by bert
Antonio Guterres condemns air raids by Saudi-led coalition on Saada city and urges all parties to protect civilians from danger.
The UN chief has condemned air raids by the Saudi-led coalition on Saada city and called for an investigation into the attacks that killed more than 70 people in Yemen.
“The Secretary-General calls for prompt, effective and transparent investigations into these incidents to ensure accountability,” Antonio Guterres’ spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said.
A detention centre holding migrants in Saada city was bombed on Friday. Basheer Omar, a Red Cross spokesperson in Yemen, said rescuers continued to search for survivors. He said more than 100 people had been killed and wounded, according to the Red Cross count.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels and an aid group on Saturday claimed that the death toll had climbed to at least 82.
Al Jazeera, however, could not independently verify the casualty figures.
Saudi-led coalition has carried out deadly air raids in Saada and the port city of HodeidaSaudi-led coalition has carried out deadly air raids in Saada and the port city of Hodeida. (Al Jazeera) Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) put the number of wounded alone at “about 200”. Ahmed Mahat, MSF’s head of mission in Yemen, said they had reports of “many bodies still at the scene of the air strike, many missing people”.
Another Saudi air raid on Friday in the port city of Hodeidah – later confirmed by satellite photos analysed by the AP news agency – hit a telecommunication centre that is key to Yemen’s connection to the internet. Early on Saturday, the internet remained down.
Yemen’s Houthi Health Minister Taha al-Motawakel has appealed to the international community for medical aid. He accused the Saudi coalition of deliberately targeting civilians.
“We consider this a war crime against humanity. The world should take responsibility at this critical moment in human history,” he said.
The Houthi Al Masirah TV satellite news channel said the strike on the telecommunications building killed and wounded an unspecified number of people. It released chaotic footage of people digging through rubble for a body as aid workers assisted bloodied survivors.
People inspect the wreckage of buildings damaged by Saudi-led coalition airstrikes in SanaaPeople inspect the wreckage of buildings that were damaged by Saudi-led coalition airstrikes in Sanaa on Tuesday [Hani Mohammed/AP Photo] Save the Children said at least three children were killed in the Hodeidah attack.
Air raids also hit near the capital, Sanaa, held by the Houthis since late 2014. On Tuesday, at least 14 people were killed in Saudi air raids in Sanaa.
Intense campaign The intense campaign comes after the Iran-backed Houthis claimed a drone and missile attack that struck inside the United Arab Emirates capital earlier this week – a major escalation in the conflict in Yemen where the Saudi-led coalition, with the UAE as a member, has been carrying out air raids since 2015.
Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Al Attab, reporting from Sanaa, said that the attacks have drawn nationwide condemnation by the Houthis and different human rights groups in Yemen.
“The Houthi-run ministry of human rights has called for an investigation into the attacks,” he said.
Eight aid agencies operating in Yemen said in a joint statement that they were “horrified” the killing in Saada, which included women and children.
Jamal Benomar, a former UN special envoy for Yemen, said the air raids are the latest in a series of war crimes committed by the Saudi-led coalition.
“There has been no accountability whatsoever since the start of this war. It’s a failure not only from the United States but the permanent members of the Security Council.
“The reality is that all the five members instead of cooperating to try to find a way on how to compel the Saudis to end the war in Yemen and compel the Yemeni sides to enter in good faith in a political process, to end this strife, they have in fact been competing for lucrative contracts with Saudi Arabia and the UAE,” he said.
“So the highest body in the world, in the United Nations, the Security Council, the members have not played, I’m afraid, a positive role in the last few years.”
Saudi-led coalition denies it carried out the attack in Saada The Saudi-led coalition denied it carried out the raid in Saada. The coalition spokesman Brigadier General Turki al-Malki alleged the Houthis had not reported the site as needing protection from air raids to the UN or the International Committee of the Red Cross.
He claimed the Houthis’ failure to do so represented the militia’s “usual deceptive approach” in the conflict. Al-Malki’s claim could not be immediately checked with the international agencies.
The Saudi-led coalition acknowledged carrying out “accurate air strikes to destroy the capabilities of the militia” around Hodeidah’s port. It did not immediately confirm striking a telecommunications target, but instead called Hodeidah a hub for piracy and Iranian arms smuggling to back the Houthis.
On Friday, Houthi supporters rallied, calling the air raids “an American escalation”. Houthi media distributed video of thousands in the streets. The Houthis commonly equate the Saudi-led coalition with the United States, condemning America.
The Saudi-led coalition entered Yemen’s civil war in 2015 to try and restore the country’s internationally recognised government, toppled by the Houthis the year before.
The conflict has turned into the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with international criticism of Saudi air raids that have killed hundreds of civilians and targeted the country’s infrastructure.
The Houthis have also been accused of war crimes and using child soldiers.
Some 130,000 people, including more than 13,000 civilians, have been killed, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.
On Friday, the UN Security Council condemned the “heinous terrorist attacks” in the UAE as well as in other sites in Saudi Arabia claimed by the Houthis, and underlined the need to hold perpetrators “accountable and bring them to justice”.
“Human rights groups have criticised the Security Council’s approach as one-sided. The council did issue a statement but again only on the drone attack on Abu Dhabi,” Al Jazeera’s James Bays reporting from New York, said.
“The secretary-general of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, has addressed the carnage in Saada and other attacks in Houthi-controlled areas. He has called for prompt, effective and transparent investigations.”
The UAE insisted that it and other coalition members remained committed to “proportionate” responses to Houthi attacks.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a separate statement that the heightening of the conflict was of “great concern” to the United States and called on all sides to de-escalate.
He earlier spoke to Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud to reaffirm a US commitment to help Gulf allies improve their defence, and stressed “the importance of mitigating civilian harm”, the Department of State said.
Iran actually believes it can attack the cities of the UAE and get away with it. Iran sics the UN on Saudi Arabia whining war crimes when there is retribution in the form of death and destruction on a new scale.
The intense whining is prima facia evidence that the coalition made the reality hit home with Iran
Why is it okay for SA and UAE to bomb Yemen, but not okay for Iran to hit back?
The UN is confusing Saudis with Jews. (It’s a given in the UN that Israel should not be allowed to defend itself and should surrender to a Jihadi genocide.) This policy is going to be harder to implement against an Islamic nation. Somebody needs to ask George Soros why he’s suddenly got a beef with Saudi Arabia.
Your post indicates complete, total , lack of understanding.
There is an Israeli/Arab coalition opposing Iran.
Religion is set aside to face the common and existential enemy that is Iran
Muslims are Jews now in the Mid East
The coalition opposing Iran is Israel Egypt, Saudi Arabia, The UAE and Bahrain.
Pay attention!!
The strikes in Yemen are retaliation for attacks the day before on the city of Abu Dhabi. Saudi Arabia made the strike in Yemen for its ally the UAE
Oh, another word. Iran is a coward and never strikes at all. The strikes by Iran are always, always, by a surrogate. Iranian lives are safe so long as there is worthless surrogate cannon fodder
Why SA came to Yemen to start with?
I see you are an anti Saudi bigot and ignorant too boot.
The Houthis regularly attach Saudi Arabia with missiles and drones. They are at war
Was it before or after Saudi invaded Yemen?
Where are Oman and Kuwait in the coalition? I wouldn’t be surprised if Qatar was tacitly supporting Iran and the Houthis in this. I was in UAE and Yemen in 2008 and Yemenis were complaining then about Iran stirring up trouble by funding Houthis.
The border between SA and Yemen has been contentious for a very long time. Traditionally SA raided the Yemen border towns for slaves. On the Saudi side there is tremendous wealth. On the Yemeni side they don’t have enough water grow crops to feed their own people. This situation would be like Haiti attacking the US, hopeless, unless they had a rich and motivated patron.
I omitted Kuwait and Oman because I wasn’t sure. I think I read recently that Kuwait was not a wholehearted partcipant in the coalition. I just don’t know about Oman.
Qatar is a belligerent 2 year old searching for relevance.
Pay attention...... the war is with Iran being fought in Yemen
Why are you siding with Iran? Are you an Iranian schill?
Why is Iran in Yemen? Why is Iran in Syria? Nobody would have wanted Iran in their country if not for the foreign aggressions against them.
Iran is intent on conquering the entire middle east
Israel because they are Jews. Saudi Arabia because of the two holy Mosques and Meca, The UAE for the wealth of not only but as center of the regional financial world.
Iran militarily invaded Saudi Arabia in 1979 and was put down. The attempt was in Mecca
Vikings were. East of Suez is
Why give them excuse by attacking countries who are forced to invite Iran for protection?
Hey........ it’s far beyond your minimum wage pay grade.
Pay attention
Both Qater and Oman have recently changed rulers. Qatar is a unique case in that the last emir retired and abdicated in favor of his son if I remember correctly. Oman’s last sultan died childless, so the sultanate passed to a relative. Oman shares the straits with Iran, so their response has to be balanced by their geographic position on the straits and sandwiched between Yemen and the UAE, with whom they have a close and cooperative arrangement.
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