A Saudi-led military coalition carried out around 30 air strikes throughout Yemen on Sunday, residents said, a day after United Nations talks to end a civil war there expired without achieving peace.
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What’s more, Saudi Arabia and its military coalition have been the target of criticism from both the United Nations and Human Rights Watch for alleged breaches of global humanitarian law that many say amount to war crimes.
Smoke rises from a snack food factory after a Saudi airstrike hit it in Sana’a, Yemen, on August 9, 2016.
A report issued earlier this week by the coalition’s Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT) refuted earlier claims by the French-based charity, Doctors Without Borders, that the Saudi coalition had deliberately caused civilian deaths by bombing Haiden Hospital in Yemen’s Saada province.
Although it coincides with the news of Saudi-led air strikes on the Yemeni capital, the announcement does not mention the conflict at all.
Houthi rebels said that Saudi warplanes launched over 50 sorties on Wednesday targeting the Nehem district, northeast of the capital city of Sanaa. The nearest rebel post is almost 1.5 kilometers (mile) away.
The factory official and the medics spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing retribution by the Houthis.
The Saudi-led coalition is backing Yemeni forces loyal to the exiled government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi who are trying to oust Iran-allied Houthi forces from Sanaa.
But on battlefronts in two areas northeast of the capital Sanaa and in southern Bayda province, local officials said about 40 fighters were killed from both sides in renewed clashes.
UNICEF said on Tuesday that four children were reportedly killed and three others wounded in fighting on Saturday.
The coalition resumed strikes days after UN-brokered peace talks in Kuwait between representatives of the government and the Iran-backed Huthi rebels ended without a breakthrough. The UN child protection agency Unicef has said more than 1,100 children were confirmed to have died since the conflict began previous year.
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Ban had previously gotten in some trouble with the Saudis for noting the large number of civilians, particularly children, that they killed, which forced them to agree to abandon language in an annual report on war crimes against children which mentioned the Saudi war.
