…As Saudi Arabia shoots down Houthi missile close to Riyadh***
The U.N. human rights office said Tuesday it has verified the killings of 136 Yemeni civilians and other non-combatants in airstrikes carried out over 11 days this month by a Saudi-led military coalition batting Yemen’s Shiite rebels.
Spokesman Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said U.N. officials are “deeply concerned” about a surge in civilian casualties from airstrikes following the killing in early December of Yemen’s former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Saleh was killed by the rebels, known as Houthis, after apparently switching alliances and turning against his former allies. Colville said the killings occurred between Dec. 6 and Dec. 16 in four northern provinces.
The airstrikes, which also injured 87 people, hit Yemen’s rebel-run TV channel, a hospital in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida, and a wedding party — a strike that killed one woman and nine children, the rights office said.
Seven strikes on a police compound in Sanaa on Dec. 13 killed at least 43 people when the compound’s prison grounds were hit, the office said. All those victims were reportedly detainees loyal to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who is supported by the coalition.
“I think one can assume that that was a mistake,” Colville said. “They weren’t intending to kill prisoners from their own side.”
After originally indicating that the 11-day confirmed death toll was 115, Colville later said it had increased to 136 to include a strike on Friday on a farmhouse in Hodeida governorate that left 20 people dead — including 14 children.
In the meantime, Houthi rebels in Yemen have claimed to have fired a ballistic missile towards the Saudi king’s official residence in Riyadh, which Saudi media said was intercepted south of the capital.
Mohammad Abdulsalam, a spokesman for the Houthis controlling the Yemeni capital of Sana’a, said on Twitter that the missile was launched towards al-Yamama palace. The Saudi-owned television network Al Arabiya reported on its Arabic language website later on Tuesday that the rocket had been shot down.
The conflict in Yemen has intensified since Houthi rebels killed former president Ali Abdullah Saleh this month.
Airstrikes by the Saudi-led military coalition have killed at least 136 civilians and non-combatants since 6 December, the UN human rights spokesman said on Tuesday. Other UN officials said the coalition was maintaining tight restrictions on ships reaching Yemen even though 8 million Yemenis are on the brink of famine with the country relying on imports for the bulk of its food, fuel and medicine.
“We are deeply concerned at the recent surge in civilian casualties in Yemen as a result of intensified air strikes by the … coalition, following the killing of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sana’a on 4 December” human rights spokesman Rupert Colville told a news briefing.
Incidents verified by the UN human rights office included seven airstrikes on a prison in the Shaub district of Sana’a on 13 December that killed at least 45 detainees thought to be loyal to the Saudi-backed president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. “One can assume that was a mistake, they weren’t intending to kill prisoners from their own side,” Colville said. “It’s an illustration of lack of due precaution.”
Agence France-Presse said one of its correspondents based in Riyadh heard a loud explosion and some users posted videos on Twitter which appeared to show the moment the Saudi defence system shot down the missile.
The incident happened before King Salman was scheduled to announce the annual budget. It was not clear if that programme had gone ahead as planned.
Houthi rebels have attempted to hit Saudi targets with ballistic missile a number of times in recent months.
In November, the launch of a missile fired from Yemen towards Riyadh’s international airport led Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, to accuse Iran of “direct military aggression” by supplying missiles to Houthis – a charge Iran vehemently denied.
Saudi officials said they also intercepted that missile but experts, speaking to the New York Times, cast doubt on claims that American defence systems were able to intercept that weapon.
Saudi Arabia and the Houthis are on opposing sides of the Yemen conflict. Since 2015, Saudi Arabia has led a military intervention aimed at countering the advances of the Iranian-backed Houthis and ultimately reinstating Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Hadi’s predecessor, Saleh, had formed an alliance with the Houthis in an effort to retake power but they killed him when he switched sides and said he was open to negotiations with the Saudis.
Abc with additional report from Guardian UK
