Civilians Dead as Saudi Bombers Pound Yemen with Cluster Bombs

Rasa - At least six civilians have lost their lives and several others sustained injuries when Saudi fighter jets carried out fresh aerial attacks against residential areas in Northern Yemen, using internationally-banned cluster bombs.

News ID: 427848

Date: 04 March 2017 - 19:51

RNA - Local sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said five people were killed and ten others injured when Saudi military aircraft struck the al-Barkah area of the Northwestern Yemeni province of Sa'ada on Friday afternoon, Arabic-language al-Masirah television network reported.

Saudi jets also launched a morning cluster bomb raid in the Hayran district of the Northwestern province of Hajjah, killing at least one person and injuring seven others.

Cluster bombs are banned under the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), an international treaty that addresses the humanitarian consequences and unacceptable harm caused to civilians by cluster munitions through a categorical prohibition and a framework for action.

Moreover, Saudi aircraft bombarded an area in the Mustaba district of the same Yemeni province, with no immediate reports of casualties and the extent of damage caused.

Saudi jets pounded the city of Sirwah, East of Sana’a, as well, though no reports of casualties were available.

Saudi Arabia has been striking Yemen since March 2015 to restore power to fugitive president Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh. The Saudi-led aggression has so far killed at least 13,100 Yemenis, including hundreds of women and children.

Despite Riyadh's claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi bombers are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.

According to several reports, the Saudi-led air campaign against Yemen has drove the impoverished country towards humanitarian disaster.

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