Yemen: The Wanton Disregard for the Lives of Civilians Continues Unabated

Rasa - The ever-mounting civilian toll of the Saudi war on Yemen refuses to go away: At least 10 women were killed on Saturday night in the Ma’arib province, when US-backed Saudi warplanes attacked the vehicle they were traveling in.

News ID: 435431

Date: 20 December 2017 - 01:59

RNA - Per usual, Saudi officials have not commented on their rationale for attacking the vehicle, which was carrying only women and young girls, but it was one of several vehicles headed home from the capital city of Sana’a after a wedding earlier in the day.

The reality of the situation is that, two and a half years into the Saudi invasion of Yemen, fuel is in such short supply that even obvious civilian vehicles traveling from one city to another are presumed to be up to something, and are subject to being targeted. Which doesn’t explain why only the vehicle carrying the women was targeted, as apparently it was traveling in a convoy with male family members in other vehicles, but only the women were hit in the attack.

There is a simple explanation for this particular incident and more: According to Human Rights Watch, the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen is committing war crimes, saying the raids intentionally kill civilians, including women and children. The rights group says these air raids that hit family homes and wedding parties are carried out either deliberately or recklessly, causing indiscriminate loss of civilian lives in violation of the laws of war.

The group specifically notes: "Such attacks carried out deliberately or recklessly are war crimes.” The Saudis - and their partners in crime - have repeatedly denied allegations of war crimes and say their attacks are directed against their enemy - Yemen's Ansarullah resistance movement - and not civilians. But that does in no way change the facts on the ground.

As concluded by Human Rights Watch, "The Saudi-led coalition's repeated promises to conduct its air strikes lawfully are not sparing Yemeni children from unlawful attacks. This underscores the need for the United Nations to immediately return the coalition to its annual 'list of shame' for violations against children in armed conflict."

This conclusion alone is enough to call on the UN Security Council to also launch an international investigation into the abuses at its next session. Last time, the UN said it had verified 5,144 civilian deaths in the war in Yemen, mainly from air raids by the Saudi-led coalition, while several independent organizations have confirmed the death toll now stands above 15,000; meaning that an international investigation is urgently needed. The United States is helping Saudi Arabia commit war crimes too, and the question is when is such investigation coming that also includes US complicity in Saudi war crimes?

An investigation like this should call on the disgraced invaders to stop the war and their indiscriminate bombing of civilians. It should further call on the US armed forces to withdraw from UN-unauthorized hostilities in the Saudi-led bombing campaign, which began in 2015. Thousands of people have been killed in the conflict and the coalition has bombed key infrastructure and imposed a strict blockade on the country. That illegal blockade also has to be lifted immediately and without any preconditions. Yemen is facing a dire humanitarian crisis and millions of people will die because of this, which is the worst famine in decades.

The resolution has to reiterate the irrefutable fact that the US has assisted Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in conducting aerial bombings in Yemen and provided midair refueling services to their warplanes. A similar resolution was adopted by the Security Council by a vote of 366-30 in the past, and the question is how come it never went any further?

Now is the time to revive that resolution and stop all this madness in practice, without any further hesitation. The United Nations has to agree to establish a group of eminent experts to examine all allegations of war crimes and potential human rights violations committed in the conflict by the Saudis and their allies and actually do something about it.

People are still dying out there and this urgent request can no longer be ignored. A credible international investigation is necessary to comprehensively, transparently, independently and impartially establish facts and circumstances surrounding these violations with a view to put an end to the cycle of impunity in Yemen. This wanton disregard for the lives of civilians cannot be allowed to continue unabated.

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