Saudi raid on Yemen aid facility against law of war: HRW

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has slammed a Saudi airstrike targeting a warehouse belonging to the international aid and development organization, Oxfam, as an “apparent violation of the law of war.”

The New York-based rights organization said on Thursday that based on the law of war applicable to the crisis in Yemen, civilians and civilian objects may never be “deliberate targets of attack.”

According to the law of war, indiscriminate attacks, including the assaults that are not directed at a specific military objective, are prohibited.

HRW added that since the Oxfam storage facility should have been known to Saudi forces, the strike that killed at least one person is suspected to have been deliberate.

“Destroying an aid group warehouse harms many civilians not even near the strike zone and threatens aid delivery everywhere in Yemen,” said Joe Stork, HRW’s deputy director for Middle East and North Africa.

The rights organization called for an investigation into the deadly assault that took place on April 18, with Stork adding, “Saudi statements that aerial attacks are over don’t end obligations to investigate alleged law-of-war violations.”

Saudi Arabia’s airstrikes on relief supplies have exacerbated the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen, HRW added.

Local residents of the city, meanwhile, told HRW that they did not notice any military targets near the storage facility and described it as a residential and commercial neighborhood.

In reaction to the attack, Oxfam’s director in Yemen, Grace Ommer said, “It is very concerning that humanitarian facilities have come under attack,” particularly considering the fact that the agency had shared “detailed information” with Saudi Arabia about “the locations of our offices and storage facilities.”

Saudi Arabia started its military aggression against Yemen on March 26 - without a UN mandate - in a bid to restore power to fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who is a close ally of Riyadh.

On April 21, Saudi government spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed al-Assiri announced the termination of Riyadh’s raids against Yemen.

However, he added that Saudi Arabia would launch a second phase of its aggression, targeting the Houthi Ansarullah movement’s fighters in Yemen.

Yemen’s al-Masirah TV reported on Wednesday that Saudi warplanes carried out an airstrike against an area in the southern province of Lahij.

MR/MKA/SS

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