Saudi-led coalition sets up body to probe actions in Yemen

The Al Anad air base, which contains an airport and Yemen’s largest training camp, is now controlled by forces loyal to President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi after being captured from Houthi fighters in August 2015.

“The Houthis are denying necessities to residents of Taiz because they happen to be living in areas that opposition forces control”, said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. HRW claims that rebels have confiscated items including food, water, cooking gas and medical supplies.

Worldwide relief agencies are also facing difficulties bringing in food and medicine, HRW said.

HRW said the population of the city had dropped from about 600,000 to no more than 200,000 civilians after many fled the fighting, according to United Nations figures.

He also said a hotline has been launched with the NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) to protect its facilities after the coalition’s raid damaged their hospital in Haydan, Saada governorate. He said the advisers held a workshop in recent days at the coalition headquarters.

In a news conference in Riyadh on Sunday, Saudi coalition spokesperson Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri acknowledged mistakes in air operations in Yemen, but mostly defended the alliance’s record while noting that its Western allies were helping to improve their performance.

The Saudi Arabia-led military coalition operating in Yemen has announced the formation of a high-level independent committee to investigate the coalition’s actions in the war torn country.

A panel of United Nations experts in a report obtained by AFP on Tuesday said the coalition has carried out 119 sorties that violated humanitarian law, and it called for an worldwide commission of inquiry.

The objective was to “develop a clear and comprehensive report on each incident with the conclusions, lessons learnt, recommendations and measures that should be taken” to spare civilians.