Civilian Casualties in Yemen Conflict

At dawn, coalition fighter jets unleashed a barrage of missiles on one of

the homes near the city of Saada in northern Yemen.

No one in the family of 12 survived, as

the bombing caught them in their sleep. Nine dead were pulled from

beneath the rubble. They were six children and three women, while

the rest are fighting for their lives. This pattern of raids has become familiar

in Saada, the Houthi stronghold, since the Arab coalition began

its military operations in Yemen in March

2015. UN organizations accuse

The parties fighting in Yemen are violating the laws of war.

Human Rights Watch documented in its report for the current year

2017, more than 60 airstrikes by coalition fighter jets.

The organization said some of them amount to war

crimes. UN figures showed that the number of

civilians killed in coalition airstrikes is more than

double the number killed by fire from other forces in Yemen.

Alongside its fighter jet airstrikes, the Arab coalition forces say

they are repelling Houthi militia attacks on areas

Najran, Jazan and Asir, cities located on the

southern border of Saudi Arabia with Yemen. The southern border region is described

as the area most draining for Saudi forces

since the launch of Operation Decisive Storm more than two years ago.

While the Houthis keep silent about their casualties,

the Saudi army's death toll along the border since the tenth

of last May has reached 43 soldiers, according to

international news agencies citing official Saudi sources.

The Houthis have also begun fueling a remote war of attrition

with remotely guided missiles fired from afar.

One such case was the Houthi militia's announcement days ago that it had targeted

the port of Mokha in a missile strike that killed and wounded

Coalition forces. The Houthi-Saleh militia's expansion of the scope

of its operations geographically and diversification of its attack methods

raises questions about what Coalition military operations

in Yemen have achieved after nearly 30 months.