Futile: UN Reports Saudi Misdeeds in Yemen - Again

Rasa - A new report released by the United Nations has once again confirmed in considerable detail misdeeds by the Saudi-led coalition, killing thousands of civilians in Yemen, raping and torturing detainees, and using child soldiers. The report has also warned these may amount to war crimes.

News ID: 439333

Date: 31 August 2018 - 23:34

RNA - Saudi Arabia is predictably furious about the report, angrily condemning it as having “misconstrued the facts of the conflict… ignoring the true reasons for the conflict,” while saying that it was an Iranian coup against the “legitimate government in Yemen.”

While previous UN resolutions more or less accepted the Saudi narrative that the war is meant to reinstall the Hadi government, the massive death toll and the many, many war crimes committed have fuelled a lot of international consternation. Still, the UN is not doing anything in particular about the situation, which is tragic. The UN General Assembly has repeatedly acquiesced to demands that the Saudis be allowed to investigate themselves on the war, which has meant probes are rare, and never come up with anything meaningful.

The UN has also failed to include names such as the United States to its “list of shame”. This is because without the United States’ support, the Saudis cannot bomb Yemen forever. One way or another, they would have to end the dirty war and be held to account for their war crimes in The Hague. On the contrary:

The Saudi-led coalition, backed by the United States and NATO, continues to kill as many civilians as possible in the battle to capture the port city of Hodeidah, the only Yemeni lifeline to the outside world. The invaders are responsible for civilian deaths since launching their offensive against the Ansarullah popular forces there.

Their heavy use of explosive weapons has inflicted large numbers of casualties, despite the so-called “precise” nature of many of those bombs. They have even killed scores of school children which the UN has been quick to condemn, leading experts to describe it war crime and crime against humanity.

The size of ammunition used may have undermined key benefits of so-called smart bomb technologies, mind. Deployed in densely-populated areas, these American-made bombs have caused devastating effect. In the most widely covered civilian casualty incident, Saudi air strike on a school bus killed at least 40 children and injured many more in a busy market in Hodeidah. They Saudis killed scores of children days later in another similar attack.

The civilian toll elsewhere, meanwhile, has grown to levels not seen in months. Reported non-combatant casualty rates from US-backed Saudi military actions have reached levels last seen in Syria and Iraq. But few of the lessons learned from Iraq and Syria are being applied in the US-backed, Saudi-led assault on Yemeni cities and towns.

According to Fars News Agancy, unlike what the Saudis would like to claim, the relatively poorly equipped fighters from Ansarullah have no warplanes to kill their own people, much less aid their defence and advances on the ground. Report after report by international aid groups have found the Saudi-led coalition was responsible for most of the civilian casualties during the four-year invasion there. They also say there is no evidence to suggest that Iran has anything to do with Yemeni missile strikes against Saudi Arabia.

That said, the Saudis are still trying to frame Iran and downplay the number of civilian casualties, so far publicly admitting to only a fraction of those recorded by the UN, Airwars or international aid groups. The UK and France, the biggest contributors to the Saudis-led coalition's offensive after the US which carry out their own strikes, have already admitted to some of their misdeeds as well. There is now a strong voice in Europe now that want these countries to stop backing the Saudi aggressors.

Like their Saudi and American counterparts, the Western “allies” also claim that they do “everything possible" to minimise the risk to civilians and say that their crews use "rigorous targeting" procedures and use of "precision weapons" in helping the Saudis. But, Airwars says, there are known civilian harm incidents in which NATO forces and aircraft are strongly implicated not just in Yemen but also in Syria. And all members of the coalition, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE, and Bahrain still claim perfect bombing records!!!

All in all, the warmongers are behind the rising number of civilian casualties in Yemen and they must never be allowed to carry out their own investigations – something the UN has allowed them to do from day one. They will never track and record “unobservable” civilian harm, because it will only put them in the spotlight and lead to international condemnation and scrutiny.

This criminal policy is a key reason why the Saudis and their partners continue significantly to undercount civilian harm in their airstrikes. Meaning, the number of civilian deaths by Saudi-led coalition forces will likely rise as bodies are pulled out of the rubbles of Hodeidah - the scene of the fiercest fighting in Yemen right now.

At any rate, the Saudis and their partners in crime are responsible for the deaths of over 17,500 civilians in Yemen, although tracking the casualties is much more difficult because the foreign aggressors operate in a blockaded air space. They are routinely hitting civilian targets, including schools, markets and hospitals, while the UN prefers to issue futile reports that only confirm Saudi “misdeeds” and possible “war crimes” and nothing more.

847/940