Backed by Saudi-led airstrikes, pro-Hadi forces have since managed to reclaim large swathes of the country’s south – including provisional capital Aden – but have failed to retake Sanaa and other strategic areas.
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Jeddah: US Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday announced a fresh global peace initiative for Yemen aimed at forming a unity government to resolve the 17-month-old conflict.
Yemen is embroiled in a civil war pitting the internationally recognized government and a Saudi-led coalition against the Shiite Houthi rebels and army units loyal to a former president.
Though US officials occasionally issue statements urging “all sides” to stop killing civilians, they continue to support the Saudis more or less unconditionally.
Saudi-led coalition air strikes were suspected of causing around half of all civilian deaths, while attacks by groups affiliated with the rebels were blamed for around a quarter of the deaths, the report said.
They also fall on the same day that the United Nations human rights chief called for an global investigation of rights abuses and violence in Yemen’s civil war, which has killed more than 9,000 people, including almost 3,800 civilians, and displaced 3 million.
KELEMEN: Secretary Kerry says he’s raised concerns about civilian casualties with his Saudi counterpart, Adel al-Jubeir, who says his country is being careful in its targeting unlike the Houthi rebels, who he says are laying siege to towns and villages, using children as soldiers and getting weapons from Iran. The fighting also resumed across borders between Yemen and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Human rights groups have argued that USA forces may also be responsible under the rules of war for civilian casualties because of its support for the Saudi campaign. A bipartisan group of senators is moving to block a $1.15 billion sale of U.S. tanks to the kingdom, citing concerns over human rights and the Saudi-led war in Yemen. Russian Federation and Iran, however, are strong backers of the Syrian president and have been accused of targeting moderate opposition forces, some of whom are supported by Washington and Gulf Arab states.
The continuous air campaign came amid a flurry of meetings between Kerry, Saudi King Salman and other key players that focused on Yemen and Syria.
Islamic State group jihadists, Al-Qaeda, and a range of other actors accounted for the remainder, it said.
In talks in Jeddah this week, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the conflict had gone on too long and needed to end.
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He added that Saudi Arabia is the first country to provide humanitarian aid to Yemen, in line with King Salman Center and through direct support, we are very keen to offer all possible humanitarian assistance to our brothers, in Yemen.
