Saudi air defence intercepts rocket fired from Yemen

Air strikes conducted by the Saudi Arabian-led coalition could have broken worldwide law in Yemen after claiming the lives of 60 civilians in residential districts, according to a report by Human Rights Watch.

The coalition’s air strikes have devastated Yemen, hitting civilian targets like weddings and hospitals with terrifying regularity.

Since March 26, a Saudi-led coalition and armed units loyal to the internationally recognized government of Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi have been fighting Iran-backed Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, and their allies, forces loyal to former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Western nations have been quietly increasing pressure on Saudi Arabia to seek a political deal to end the conflict, U.N. diplomats have said.

A Saudi official said the missiles were targeting Jizan’s civil airport and had been fired by Yemeni Houthi rebels.

In October, Saudi Arabia successfully pressed the United Nations to abandon its proposal for a human rights inquiry investigating both sides in the war.

A source in Jizan said there was no sign of any attack in Jizan Economic City, where a refinery and oil terminal are under construction, some 80 km north of the city of Jizan and about 150 km from the border with Yemen.

The statement came as the warring parties agreed to a seven day ceasefire on December 15, which has repeatedly been violated. Zeid said more than 600 children had been killed and some 900 injured – a five-fold increase compared to 2014.

Ahmed told the council there were still deep divisions and “trust between the parties remains weak”.

Speaking in a press conference at the Tasnim headquarters in Tehran on Wednesday, Mohammed al-Bukhaiti said the Al Saud not only failed to reach its objectives in the war on Yemen, but also realized its weakness and vulnerability in the encounter with Yemenis.

The coalition stands accused of numerous other war crimes, including 10 unlawful bombings between April and August in Ibb, Amran, Hajja, Hodaida, Taizz, and Sanaa that were also documented by HRW.

That evacuation was engineered by the Indian embassy in Sanaa that stayed open till the first week of April even when nearly every other major nation – including the US, European countries, China and Arab nations – had shut their missions citing security concerns.