Civilian Casualties in Yemen Conflict

The smell of death and charred bodies is Yemen's war

with its raids that spare no one. A rest area where

vendors and workers slept in the night market in Wadi Allaf,

Sahar District in Yemen's Saada, was reduced to ashes

after a Saudi-led Arab coalition airstrike.

According to local sources, dozens were killed and others

were wounded and burned. The coalition remained silent,

as it usually does after most raids that kill unarmed civilians

in a war it said was meant to restore hope.

We apologize for not showing all the images we received because they are

very shocking and painful. They are the complete opposite

of what Saudi Arabia's UN representative, Abdullah

Al-Mouallimi, said. He stated that Arab coalition forces

had adopted specific mechanisms to avoid harming

civilians in Yemen.

We announce our categorical rejection of the figures and statistics

cited in the report concerning cases of child victims

attributed to coalition forces.

Those who died burned alive while asleep in the night market.

Were they not civilians? Among the remarks made by the ambassador

the Saudi ambassador said that the coalition investigated thirty-seven

cases following allegations that it targeted civilians,

explaining that it took every allegation

seriously. On the ground, this does not appear clear

in any way. The contradictory statements by Saudi officials

regarding Yemen's war range from those vowing

to continue it to those saying yes to investigations

and calling for UN involvement in resolving the conflict.

Isn't that another sign that their vision is not

clear?

It is plainly evident, from more than one report

by UN-affiliated and other human rights groups,

that coalition airstrikes often hit Yemen's women

and men and children. When Riyadh follows its rejection

of a UN report on children in conflict zones with a raid

on civilians, how will it face the accusations

pursuing it? The UN placed the Arab coalition

on the blacklist for child rights violations.

A measure taken because of the killing

And the disfigurement of hundreds of children in Yemen during the past year,

according to a report published by the United Nations. Even the current

year is no less bleak than the previous one for Yemenis.

The coalition continues to bomb targets

civilian targets and kill innocent people. Of the war in Yemen,

it will be said that lives of all ages were unjustly taken

by the weapons of all parties to the conflict, without exception,

foremost among them the Arab coalition.