Saudi Arabia's almost 2-year aggression on neighboring Yemen could be war crimes, Human Rights Watch said, calling on the US, UK and France to stop selling weapons to Riyadh.
The humanitarian situation in Yemen is "increasingly unsustainable" Ahmed Benchemsi, communications and advocacy director at Human Rights Watch's Middle East & North Africa told RT warning that the situation is turning into a "deep humanitarian catastrophe".
"More than 3 million people have been displaced in Yemen and more than 80 percent are relying on some form of humanitarian aid. Yemen has the highest rate of child malnutrition in the world now and it is estimated that one in five persons are in severe food insecurity," he said, citing data from the World Food Program.
Saudi Arabia launched a bloody aggression on its southern neighbor Yemen on 27 March 2015 in a bid to restore power to Abed Rabbah Mansur Hadi who resigned as Yemen president and fled to Riyadh as well as to undermine Ansarullah resistance movement whom Wahhabi Saudi leaders consider a threat to their interests.
Saudi regime's war on its already-backyard has claimed lives of over 12,000 civilians and has injured much many more.
"We ourselves, at Human Rights Watch, were able to document 61 apparent unlawful airstrikes, all conducted by the coalition, some of which may amount indeed to war crimes and that have killed nearly 900 civilians and have hit civilian areas, including markets, schools, hospitals and private homes," Benchemsi told Russian media outlet.
"Targeting civilian targets is an absolute violation of the laws of war and this is what we [HRW] are closely monitoring in Yemen," he added.
Saudi Arabia's Friday airstrike on a market in western Yemen has killed at least 22 Yemenis, all of them civilians, and injured dozens.
Benchemsi also slammed the blockade "organized by the Saudi-led coalition" and called on western powers who supply Saudi Arabia with weapons to immediately halt deliveries.
"We clearly recommend that the United States, the United Kingdom, France and others should suspend all weapons sales to Saudi Arabia until they curtail their unlawful airstrikes in Yemen and until also a credible investigation is conducted about those violations," Benchemsi said, adding that previous investigations conducted by the coalition do not appear to the HRW to be "fair or credible."
LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/5610
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