The Wall Street Journal notes that “Yemeni officials blamed the attack on a Saudi-led coalition” The group which for the past months has carried out “airstrikes against Yemen’s Iran-supported Houthi rebels“.
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A local man affiliated with the Houthis – the Shia rebel group who are fighting the coalition – was holding his wedding reception.
The incident in the village of Bani Zela, in Yemen’s Red Sea border area with Saudi Arabia, comes a day after the kingdom announced that three of its officers, including a general, had been killed along the frontier.
“The (Hadi-led) government in exile seemed to have acknowledged it and said it was a mistake…”
The death toll from the attack had risen to 131, up from 27 reported on Monday, said a medical source at a local hospital where the casualties were taken.
At least 151 civilians were killed in two weeks alone, between September 11 and 24, said Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Saudi Arabia says the Houthis, Shiites from north Yemen, are puppets of Iran and must be defeated to stop the Islamic Republic from gaining a foothold in the Arabian Peninsula, though Western diplomats have questioned the level of Iranian involvement.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned on Monday’s air raid, saying intentional attacks on civilians were considered a “serious violation of worldwide humanitarian law”.
The coalition called for an independent investigation into the incident.
The United States has not just steadfastly supported the Saudi-led bombing campaign; it has also provided Saudi Arabia with the weapons it is using to commit what numerous human rights organizations have characterized as war crimes.
Meanwhile, in the capital Sanaa on Tuesday, coalition forces pounded targets near the global airport, an area of the city where numerous military sites and air bases are located. Yemen is reliant on shipments from its ports, importing 90 percent of its food supply by sea prior to the beginning of the Saudi-led assault.
The Houthis do not have an air force while the Saudi coalition has complete control over Yemeni airspace.
Spokesman said that enough innocents were being killed in the fighting in Yemen amid “an increasing number of air strikes targeting bridges and highways”. So far at least 70 people, mostly soldiers, have been killed in Saudi Arabia because of the Yemen conflict.
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The coalition’s blockade of Yemen’s air and seaports has also greatly exacerbated the “extremely dire” humanitarian situation in the country, according to the UN.
