Civilian Deaths in Yemen Raise War Crime Questions
Source: Associated Press
Civilian Deaths in Yemen Raise War Crime Questions
By MAGGIE MICHAEL AND AHMED AL-HAJ, ASSOCIATED PRESS ABS, Yemen Nov 16, 2016, 10:51 AM ET
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Moments after al-Khal pulled up at the hospital in the town of Abs, a missile smashed down by his car, just outside the hospital entrance. Al-Khal, a father of eight, was incinerated. The blast ripped through patients and family waiting in an outdoor reception area. Nineteen people were killed, along with two civilians killed on the highway.
The Aug. 15 attack typified what has been a pattern in the nearly 2-year-old air campaign by Saudi Arabia and its allies against Yemen's Shiite rebels, known as Houthis. Rights groups and U.N. officials say the U.S.-backed coalition has often either deliberately or recklessly depended on faulty intelligence, failed to distinguish between civilian and military targets and disregarded the likelihood of civilian casualties.
Experts say some of the strikes amount to war crimes.
"The Saudis have been committing war crimes in Yemen," said Gabor Rona, a professor teaching the laws of war at Columbia University. He warned that American personnel helping the coalition "may also be guilty of war crimes."
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Read more:
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/us-backed-air-campaign-yemen-raises-war-crimes-43572150