The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has slammed Saudi Arabiafor carrying out military attacks against civilians in Yemen.
Zeid Raad Zeid al-Hussein made the remarks on Tuesday, addressing the UN Security Councils first public meeting on the crisis affecting Yemen since Saudi Arabia started the war in March.
Al-Hussein said a disproportionate amount of the attacks against the civilians appeared to be the result of airstrikes carried out by coalition forces, referring to the Saudi forces as well as forces from other countries fighting on Riyadhs behalf.
The commissioner added that he had observed with extreme concern heavy aerial shelling in civilian areas, including the destruction of hospitals and schools.
Saudi Arabia was conspicuously absent at the Security Council meeting. A statement by Human Rights Watch, meanwhile, criticized the Council for remaining almost silent on coalitionabuses.
The Saudi war supposedly seeks to undermine Yemens Houthi Ansarullah movement and return fugitive former Yemeni president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a Saudi ally, to power. The invasion has so far killed more than 7,500 people and injured over 14,000 others in Yemen.
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A picture taken on November 16, 2015, shows a Saudi F-15 fighter jet landing at the Khamis Mushayt military airbase, some 880 kilometers (546 miles) from the capital, Riyadh, as the Saudi military conducts operations against Yemen. (Photo by AFP)[/caption]Also on Tuesday, a statement by Celine Langlois, who served as the emergency medical coordinator for the aid group Doctors Without Borders in Yemen, shed further light on the plight of the Yemeni civilians by describing the effects of airstrikes in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.
The plane flies over, drops a bomb and goes away and then comes back, the statementsaid, adding, It can stay in the sky for hours, making everyone nervous. All people want is for the plane to empty its deadly cargo and go away so they can continue with their day.
On December 15, Ansarullah members and representatives loyal to Hadi started to take part in UN-brokered peace talks in Switzerland with the aim of reaching a permanent ceasefire and paving the way for a return to a peaceful political solution to the crisis.
Aseven-day UN-sponsored ceasefire took effect the same day, obliging all parties to the conflict to hold fire. Saudi Arabia and Hadi loyalists reportedly took advantage of the truce by respectively intensifying bombardment and overrunning some areas.The talks, which did not result in a breakthrough, are expected to resume next month.
Warning that much relied on the negotiations, the UN special envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, has said, We all know that the path to peace in Yemen will be a long and difficult one but we also know that failure is not an option.
Zeid likewise warned that a failed state in Yemen would almost certainly give space for further growth of terrorist groups like Daesh, which has overrun parts of Iraq and Syria.
By Press TV
