Yemen: UN urges US to investigate Saudi-led militants Issues of Humanitarian Relief

A United Nations official has condemned the Saudi-led airstrikes in Saada and called for an investigation into the killings that killed more than 70 people in Yemen.

“The Secretary-General wants to conduct a thorough, effective and transparent investigation into these incidents to ensure that they are accountable,” Antonio Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

A refugee camp in Saada was bombed on Friday. Yemeni Red Cross spokesman Basheer Omar said rescuers were still searching for survivors. He also said that more than 100 people have been killed and injured, according to the Red Cross.

Houthi militants in Yemen and an aid group on Saturday said the death toll had risen to 82.

Al Jazeera, however, could not independently confirm the casualties.

Paramedics (Medecins Sans Frontiers, or MSF) put the number of casualties on “almost 200”. Ahmed Mahat, head of MSF mission in Yemen, said he had reports of “many bodies still at the scene of the plane crash, with many people missing”.

Another Saudi plane crash on Friday in the port city of Hodeidah – later confirmed by satanic images investigated by the AP – hit a telecommunication site that was critical to Yemeni’s internet connection. Earlier on Saturday, the internet remained low.

Houthi Health Minister in Yemen Taha al-Motawakel has called on countries around the world to seek medical treatment. He criticized the Saudi coalition for deliberately attacking civilians.

“We see this as a case of war against the people. The world must take responsibility at this critical time in human history,” he said.

Houthi TV channel Al Masirah said the attack on the interconnected building killed and injured unidentified people. It produced disturbing images of people digging up debris while relief workers assisted the survivors.

People look at the wreckage of houses destroyed by Saudi-led warlords in Sanaa on Tuesday. [Hani Mohammed/AP Photo]

Save the Children says at least three children have been killed in the Hodeidah attack.

A plane crash also struck near the capital Sanaa, which had been occupied by Houthis since late 2014. On Tuesday, at least 14 people were killed in a Saudi plane crash in Sanaa.

Power campaign

The big campaign comes after Iranian-backed Houthi claimed that drones and missiles had exploded inside the United Arab Emirates headquarters earlier this week – a major escalation in the war in Yemen with a Saudi-led alliance, and the UAE as a member. has been carrying out air strikes since 2015.

Mohammed Al Attab of Al Jazeera, from Sanaa, said the violence had been condemned nationally by Houthis and various human rights groups in Yemen.

“The Houthi human rights ministry has asked for an investigation into the incident,” he said.

Eight organizations operating in Yemen said they were “scared” of being killed in Saada, including women and children.

“Refugees are looking for a better life for themselves and their families, injured Yemeni civilians and more people, and a picture we did not expect to wake up in Yemen,” said Gillian Moyes, head of Save the Children in Yemen.

Jamal Benomar, a former UN special envoy to Yemen, said the airstrikes were the latest in a series of war crimes committed by the Saudi-led coalition.

“There have been no cases since the war. I am a failure not only in the United States but also in the permanent members of the Security Council.

“The reality is that all five members instead of trying to find a way to force the Saudis to end the war in Yemen and force the Yemeni sides to enter into a political arena, to resolve the conflict, have been competing for lucrative contracts with Saudi Arabia and the UAE,” he said.

“That’s why the world ‘s highest organization, in the United Nations, Security Council, has not played, and feared, a good role in the last few years.”

The Saudi-led coalition has denied any wrongdoing in Saada

The Saudi-led coalition has denied any wrongdoing in Saada. A spokesman for the coalition Brigadier General Turki al-Malki said the Houthis had not said the area needed security at the UN or the International Committee of the Red Cross.

He also said that the Houthis’ failure to do so represents a “deceptive tactic” for the military in the war. Al-Malki’s claims have not been investigated immediately by international organizations.

The Saudi-led coalition agreed to “strike a plane in the right direction to destroy the potential of the military” around Hodeidah port. It was not immediately clear that he wanted to be connected by telephone, but instead called Hodeidah a place of violence and smuggled Iranian weapons to support the Houthis.

Iran has refused to supply Houthis weapons, although UN experts, independent experts and Western nations have shown evidence of Tehran’s alliance with weapons.

On Friday, Houthi allies staged a series of protests, calling the rebels “American extremists”. Houthi journalists have distributed thousands of videos on the streets. Houthi often likens the Saudi-led alliance to the United States, criticizing America.

A Saudi-led coalition entered into a civil war in Yemen in 2015 in an attempt to restore the world-famous government, which was overthrown by the Houthis last year.

The conflict has become the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis, with critics of Saudi Arabia airlifting civilians and killing civilians.

Houthis are also accused of war crimes and child labor.

About 130,000 people, including more than 13,000 civilians, have been killed, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.

On Friday, the UN Security Council condemned “dangerous terrorists” in the UAE and other parts of Saudi Arabia that the Houthis had cited, and stressed the need to make perpetrators “accountable and prosecuted”.

“Human rights groups have criticized the Security Council for being a part of it. The council also issued a statement on the drone attack in Abu Dhabi, “said James Bays of Al Jazeera in New York.

“The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, has spoken out about the Saada massacre and other acts of violence in the Houthi area. He has called for an urgent, effective and transparent investigation.”

The UAE insisted that it and other allies remained committed to “responding” to the Houthi invasion.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that the scale of the conflict was “extremely worrying” in the United States and called on both sides to reduce it.

He had earlier spoken to Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud to reaffirm US commitment to help Gulf allies improve their security, stressing “the need to reduce casualties,” the government department said.