Saudi-led coalition launches intense airstrikes on Yemeni capital

The Saudi-led coalition airstrikes targeted civilian infrastructure in Sana, once again committing war crimes under international law.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damages after the attacks.

The Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen was launched by Saudi Arabia on 26 March 2015, leading a coalition of nine countries from West Asia and North Africa.

The intervention received widespread criticism and had a dramatic worsening effect on Yemen's humanitarian situation, which reached the level of a “humanitarian disaster” or “humanitarian catastrophe”.

Various human rights organizations have accused Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen, of human rights violations and some have gone as far as accusing the coalition of war crimes. The majority of these accusations stem from airstrikes undertaken by the coalition, but others, including the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, have also criticized the coalition's approach to blockades. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food said that the deliberate starvation of civilians in both international and internal armed conflict may constitute a war crime, and could also constitute a crime against humanity in the event of deliberate denial of food and also the deprivation of food sources or supplies.

A 2019 United Nations report said the US, UK, and France may be complicit in committing war crimes in Yemen by selling weapons and providing other support to the Saudi-led coalition which is using the deliberate starvation of civilians as a tactic of warfare.

The Saudi-led coalition’s bombing campaign has so far killed or injured an estimated 18,755 civilians, according to the Yemen Data Project. (ILKHA)