Reuters, Geneva :
A Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen has killed 109 civilians in air strikes in the past 10 days, including 54 people at a crowded market and 14 members of one family on a farm, the top U.N. official in the country said on Thursday.
The fighting is futile and absurd, U.N. resident coordinator Jamie McGoldrick said, in unusually direct criticism of the campaign being waged by the coalition against the Iran-aligned Houthi movement.
The Saudi-led coalition, which is backed by the United States, Britain and others, denounced the charges, saying the information lacked credibility. McGoldrick appeared to be taking the Houthi side in the conflict, the Saudis said.
Citing initial reports from the U.N. human rights office, a statement by McGoldrick said air strikes hit a crowded market in the Al Hayma sub-district of Attazziah in Taiz governorate on Tuesday, killing 54 and injuring 32.
Eight of the dead and six of the injured were children, according to the reports.
On the same day, an air strike on a farm in Attohayta district of Hodeidah governorate killed 14, and air strikes elsewhere killed a further 41 civilians and injured 43 over the past 10 days.
“These incidents prove the complete disregard for human life that all parties, including the Saudi-led coalition, continue to show in this absurd war that has only resulted in the destruction of the country and the incommensurate suffering of its people, who are being punished as part of a futile military campaign by both sides,” McGoldrick said.
Under international law, the warring sides must spare civilians and civilian infrastructure, he added.
A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition said he regretted the information that came in McGoldrick’s statement.
“This statement creates a continuous state of doubt about the information and data used by the United Nations, and challenges its credibility,” the coalition spokesman said in a statement carried by Saudi state news agency SPA.
“As the coalition spokesman condemns this biased stand, he asserts the need for the United Nations to review the mechanism of humanitarian work and the competence of its employees working in Yemen and to monitor their performance,” SPA said, citing the statement.
The United Nations has no up-to-date estimate of the death toll in Yemen. It said in August 2016 that according to medical centers at least 10,000 people had been killed.
The United Nations says Yemen is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with about 8 million people on the brink of famine, a cholera epidemic that has infected 1 million people, and economic collapse in what was already one of the Arab world’s poorest countries.
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary James Mattis said Friday the U.S. is determined to reduce the number of civilian casualties in the Saudi-led campaign against rebels in Yemen and will press ahead with efforts to train Saudi pilots to identify legitimate targets.
His comments to reporters at the Pentagon followed a U.N. report on Thursday that said more than 100 civilians had been killed in airstrikes in Yemen in just the past 10 days.
“We are going to continue to train them how to do target identification, try to get their capabilities up in those areas. We’re going to continue to work with their pilots and explain how you do bombing runs, that sort of thing,” Mattis said. “Anything we can do to limit the civilian casualties, we will be doing … We are going to try to make that military of the Saudis more capable of carrying out what they find to be their military necessity without killing innocents.”
At the same time, he blamed the rebels for stockpiling weapons in residential areas, which he said was not a sign that they care about the safety of civilians.
On Thursday, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Yemen said that Saudi-led airstrikes had killed 109 civilians since Dec. 18, including at least 54 in airstrikes on a market in the western province of Taiz, and 14 people from the same family in an airstrike on a farm in the coastal Hodeida province.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Shiite rebels criticized the statement, calling it “biased” toward the rebels and calling on the U.N. to review the humanitarian work mechanism and the competence of its employees in Yemen. It said the statement created “a constant state of uncertainty about the information and data on which the U.N. relies and undermines its credibility.”
The coalition, backing an internationally recognized government, has been at war with Iran-allied Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, since March 2015. The stalemated war has killed more than 10,000 people, displaced 3 million, damaged critical infrastructure and pushed the country to the brink of famine.
A Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen has killed 109 civilians in air strikes in the past 10 days, including 54 people at a crowded market and 14 members of one family on a farm, the top U.N. official in the country said on Thursday.
The fighting is futile and absurd, U.N. resident coordinator Jamie McGoldrick said, in unusually direct criticism of the campaign being waged by the coalition against the Iran-aligned Houthi movement.
The Saudi-led coalition, which is backed by the United States, Britain and others, denounced the charges, saying the information lacked credibility. McGoldrick appeared to be taking the Houthi side in the conflict, the Saudis said.
Citing initial reports from the U.N. human rights office, a statement by McGoldrick said air strikes hit a crowded market in the Al Hayma sub-district of Attazziah in Taiz governorate on Tuesday, killing 54 and injuring 32.
Eight of the dead and six of the injured were children, according to the reports.
On the same day, an air strike on a farm in Attohayta district of Hodeidah governorate killed 14, and air strikes elsewhere killed a further 41 civilians and injured 43 over the past 10 days.
“These incidents prove the complete disregard for human life that all parties, including the Saudi-led coalition, continue to show in this absurd war that has only resulted in the destruction of the country and the incommensurate suffering of its people, who are being punished as part of a futile military campaign by both sides,” McGoldrick said.
Under international law, the warring sides must spare civilians and civilian infrastructure, he added.
A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition said he regretted the information that came in McGoldrick’s statement.
“This statement creates a continuous state of doubt about the information and data used by the United Nations, and challenges its credibility,” the coalition spokesman said in a statement carried by Saudi state news agency SPA.
“As the coalition spokesman condemns this biased stand, he asserts the need for the United Nations to review the mechanism of humanitarian work and the competence of its employees working in Yemen and to monitor their performance,” SPA said, citing the statement.
The United Nations has no up-to-date estimate of the death toll in Yemen. It said in August 2016 that according to medical centers at least 10,000 people had been killed.
The United Nations says Yemen is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with about 8 million people on the brink of famine, a cholera epidemic that has infected 1 million people, and economic collapse in what was already one of the Arab world’s poorest countries.
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary James Mattis said Friday the U.S. is determined to reduce the number of civilian casualties in the Saudi-led campaign against rebels in Yemen and will press ahead with efforts to train Saudi pilots to identify legitimate targets.
His comments to reporters at the Pentagon followed a U.N. report on Thursday that said more than 100 civilians had been killed in airstrikes in Yemen in just the past 10 days.
“We are going to continue to train them how to do target identification, try to get their capabilities up in those areas. We’re going to continue to work with their pilots and explain how you do bombing runs, that sort of thing,” Mattis said. “Anything we can do to limit the civilian casualties, we will be doing … We are going to try to make that military of the Saudis more capable of carrying out what they find to be their military necessity without killing innocents.”
At the same time, he blamed the rebels for stockpiling weapons in residential areas, which he said was not a sign that they care about the safety of civilians.
On Thursday, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Yemen said that Saudi-led airstrikes had killed 109 civilians since Dec. 18, including at least 54 in airstrikes on a market in the western province of Taiz, and 14 people from the same family in an airstrike on a farm in the coastal Hodeida province.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Shiite rebels criticized the statement, calling it “biased” toward the rebels and calling on the U.N. to review the humanitarian work mechanism and the competence of its employees in Yemen. It said the statement created “a constant state of uncertainty about the information and data on which the U.N. relies and undermines its credibility.”
The coalition, backing an internationally recognized government, has been at war with Iran-allied Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, since March 2015. The stalemated war has killed more than 10,000 people, displaced 3 million, damaged critical infrastructure and pushed the country to the brink of famine.
