US BACKED SAUDI IMPERIALISTS
'No way to deny': coalition slammed over Yemen prison air raid
The Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen's Huthi rebels has "no way to deny" it carried out air strikes on a prison that killed scores of people, an aid agency has said.
The Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen's Huthi rebels has "no way to deny" it carried out air strikes on a prison that killed scores of people, an aid agency has said.
© - Yemenis inspect the bodies of victims a day after reported Saudi-led airstrikes in the Huthi stronghold of Saada on January 22
The accusation by Doctors Without Borders comes after the military coalition denied any knowledge of the attack in the Huthi-held northern Yemeni city of Saada, while acknowledging a raid elsewhere.
"There is no way to deny that this is an air strike, everyone in Saada City heard it," an unnamed member of the agency, known by its French initials MSF, was quoted as saying in a statement late on Saturday
The accusation by Doctors Without Borders comes after the military coalition denied any knowledge of the attack in the Huthi-held northern Yemeni city of Saada, while acknowledging a raid elsewhere.
"There is no way to deny that this is an air strike, everyone in Saada City heard it," an unnamed member of the agency, known by its French initials MSF, was quoted as saying in a statement late on Saturday
.
Sophie RAMIS Map of Yemen locating Hodeida and Saada
"I live one kilometre (half a mile) from the prison and my house was shaking from the explosions."
The attack overnight on Friday created horrific scenes, with bombed-out buildings littered with bodies and hospitals overwhelmed.
Rescuers continue to claw through the rubble searching for survivors, MSF said.
The Iran-backed Huthis' health ministry said 82 people were killed and 266 wounded, the agency said. There was no independent confirmation of the figures.
The Saudi-led coalition -- which is backed by arms sales by countries including the United States, Britain and France -- has dismissed claims it was responsible as "baseless and unfounded".
But it did report strikes a few hours earlier on the Red Sea port city of Hodeida that knocked out Yemen's internet, complicating rescue efforts and compounding problems for the impoverished country.
- 'Terrible effects' -
"This is the latest in a long line of unjustifiable air strikes carried out by the Saudi-led coalition on places like schools, hospitals, markets, wedding parties and prisons," said Ahmed Mahat, MSF head of mission in Yemen.
"Since the beginning of the war we have frequently witnessed the terrible effects of indiscriminate coalition bombing on Yemen, including when our own hospitals have been attacked."
MSF said its staff had confirmed the prison in Saada, the rebels' northern home base, was destroyed, and that a nearby hospital had run out of beds to treat the wounded.
"The hospital is facing a very difficult situation... with casualties lying on the floor," a staff member was quoted as saying.
The attacks marked a rapid escalation of hostilities after a drone and missile strike on the United Arab Emirates -- which is part of the coalition -- killed three in the capital Abu Dhabi last Monday.
Yemen's civil war began in 2014 when the Huthis seized the capital Sanaa, prompting the Saudi-led coalition to intervene to prop up the government the following year.
Rights groups have long criticised the coalition for civilian casualties in its aerial bombardment.
According to the Yemen Data Project, an independent tracker, there have been almost 9,000 civilian casualties from coalition air raids since 2015.
The conflict has killed hundreds of thousands of people directly or indirectly and left millions on the brink of famine, according the UN which calls it the world's worst humanitarian catastrophe.
bur/th/pjm
"I live one kilometre (half a mile) from the prison and my house was shaking from the explosions."
The attack overnight on Friday created horrific scenes, with bombed-out buildings littered with bodies and hospitals overwhelmed.
Rescuers continue to claw through the rubble searching for survivors, MSF said.
The Iran-backed Huthis' health ministry said 82 people were killed and 266 wounded, the agency said. There was no independent confirmation of the figures.
The Saudi-led coalition -- which is backed by arms sales by countries including the United States, Britain and France -- has dismissed claims it was responsible as "baseless and unfounded".
But it did report strikes a few hours earlier on the Red Sea port city of Hodeida that knocked out Yemen's internet, complicating rescue efforts and compounding problems for the impoverished country.
- 'Terrible effects' -
"This is the latest in a long line of unjustifiable air strikes carried out by the Saudi-led coalition on places like schools, hospitals, markets, wedding parties and prisons," said Ahmed Mahat, MSF head of mission in Yemen.
"Since the beginning of the war we have frequently witnessed the terrible effects of indiscriminate coalition bombing on Yemen, including when our own hospitals have been attacked."
MSF said its staff had confirmed the prison in Saada, the rebels' northern home base, was destroyed, and that a nearby hospital had run out of beds to treat the wounded.
"The hospital is facing a very difficult situation... with casualties lying on the floor," a staff member was quoted as saying.
The attacks marked a rapid escalation of hostilities after a drone and missile strike on the United Arab Emirates -- which is part of the coalition -- killed three in the capital Abu Dhabi last Monday.
Yemen's civil war began in 2014 when the Huthis seized the capital Sanaa, prompting the Saudi-led coalition to intervene to prop up the government the following year.
Rights groups have long criticised the coalition for civilian casualties in its aerial bombardment.
According to the Yemen Data Project, an independent tracker, there have been almost 9,000 civilian casualties from coalition air raids since 2015.
The conflict has killed hundreds of thousands of people directly or indirectly and left millions on the brink of famine, according the UN which calls it the world's worst humanitarian catastrophe.
bur/th/pjm
Coalition denies Yemen prison air strike that killed 70An image grab from video made available by Yemen's Huthis shows what the rebels say is the prison destroyed by the attack on Saada (AFP/-)
Sat, January 22, 2022, 3:16 AM·3 min read
The Saudi-led coalition on Saturday denied carrying out an air strike on a prison in Yemen's rebel-held north that aid groups said killed at least 70 people, including migrants, women and children.
Claims the coalition ordered the raid, which reduced buildings to rubble and left rescuers scrabbling for survivors with their bare hands, were "groundless", the alliance said.
The attack, which coincided with a coalition strike on the Yemeni port of Hodeida that killed three children and knocked out the impoverished country's internet, was condemned by UN chief Antonio Guterres.
But "these claims adopted by the militia are baseless and unfounded", said coalition spokesperson Turki al-Malki, referring to the Iran-backed rebels.
This week has witnessed a dramatic upswing in the conflict that has already killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions, creating what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
The rebels took the capital Sanaa in 2014, prompting the Saudi-led intervention -- supported by the US, France and Britain -- in March 2015. It was intended to last just a few weeks.
The latest violence came after the Huthi rebels on Monday claimed their first deadly attack on Abu Dhabi, capital of coalition partner the United Arab Emirates, taking the conflict into a new phase.
The drone and missile attack, which killed three people, was the first deadly assault the UAE has acknowledged inside its borders, and prompted threats of reprisals.
- 'Horrific act of violence' -
The internet blackout, which went into its second day on Saturday according to web monitor NetBlocks, complicated rescue work and media reporting as information slowed to a trickle.
"The nation-scale internet disruption in Yemen is ongoing with no indication of recovery," NetBlocks said.
Unverified footage released by the Huthis revealed gruesome scenes at the bombed-out prison facility, as rescue workers scrambled to dig out bodies and mangled corpses were placed in piles.
Eight aid agencies operating in Yemen said in a joint statement that the prison in Saada, the rebels' home base, was used as a holding centre for migrants, who made up many of the casualties.
They said they were "horrified by the news that more than 70 people, including migrants, women and children, have been killed... in a blatant disregard for civilian lives".
Hospitals were overwhelmed as hundreds of casualties flooded in, aid workers said.
"It is impossible to know how many people have been killed. It seems to have been a horrific act of violence," said Ahmed Mahat, Doctors Without Borders' head of mission in Yemen.
Meeting on Friday, the UN Security Council unanimously condemned the "heinous terrorist attacks" on Abu Dhabi, but the council's Norwegian presidency also denounced the strikes on Yemen.
In a later statement, the UN chief reminded "all parties that attacks directed against civilians and civilian infrastructure are prohibited by international humanitarian law".
- 'Destruction of the country' -
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for "all parties to the conflict to de-escalate" and "abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law".
Iran on Saturday also condemned recent air strikes on Huthi-held areas, warning they have "made the path to achieve a just peace in the country even more difficult," foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said.
Saudi Arabia accuses regional rival Iran of providing military support to the Huthis, especially missiles and rockets, claims that Tehran denies.
Khatibzadeh said there was a lack of "serious determination to advance the political settlement of the Yemeni crisis", warning it would lead to the "destruction of the country and instability in the region".
The Huthis have warned foreign companies to leave the "unsafe" UAE, a veiled threat of revenge attacks after Friday's strikes.
"We advise the foreign companies in Emirates to leave because they invest in an unsafe country and the rulers of this country continue in their aggression against Yemen," warned Huthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree.
bur/th/lg/kir
No comments:
Post a Comment