BICOM

The Saudi-led coalition fighting against Houthis in Yemen has rejected a new UN report which said some of its attacks may amount to war crimes.

The Group of Experts’ report, the first UN investigation into possible war crimes in Yemen, said that the coalition’s bombardment of cities and villages has caused heavy civilian casualties, raising concerns about the coalition’s targeting process and principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution, while severe restrictions on Red Sea ports and Sana’a airport had deprived Yemenis of vital supplies. The UN report will be presented next month to the UN Human Rights Council. The Group of Experts said they did not examine the role of the US, Britain or France, who supply weapons and intelligence to the coalition, or Iranian support for the Houthis, but other UN bodies were doing so.

The coalition said it has co-operated in an “open and transparent manner” with the UN group. It claimed that “false allegations” have been made against it based on “misleading reports by some non-governmental organisations,” which include accusations that it targeted civilians, restricted humanitarian aid and carried out arbitrary detentions.

The coalition also expressed “surprise for the report’s disregard of the great humanitarian role played by the coalition states in Yemen, and the huge humanitarian assistance it has provided in order to alleviate the suffering of the Yemeni people”.

According to UN figures at least 6,660 civilians have died and 10,563 been injured in the fighting since 2015, while thousands more have died from preventable causes, including malnutrition, disease and poor health.

The fighting and a partial blockade by the coalition has also left 22 million people in need of humanitarian aid and has created the world’s largest food security emergency. The war has also caused a cholera outbreak, affecting up to 1.1 million people.