Saudis deliberately target schools, kill kids in Yemen: Amnesty International

On Friday, the UK-based rights group released a report titled, "Our kids are bombed," wherein it expressed outrage at the Saudi airstrikes against schools in the provinces of Sana’a, Hajjah, and Hudaydah in western Yemen between August and October.

 On Friday, the UK-based rights group released a report titled, "Our kids are bombed," wherein it expressed outrage at the Saudi airstrikes against schools in the provinces of Sana’a, Hajjah, and Hudaydah in western Yemen between August and October.

In some of the attacks, which killed five civilians and injured at least 14 people, including four children, "the schools were struck more than once, suggesting the strikes were deliberately targeted," the rights group said.

"No evidence could be found in any of the five cases to suggest the schools had been used for military purposes," it added, saying that the resultant damage had disrupted the education of more than 6,500 children in those provinces.

The Saudi strikes were launched with the aim of undermining Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement and bringing the country’s fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a Riyadh ally, back to power.

Yemeni men walk past a building, damaged during a Saudi airstrike, in the capital, Sana’a, on November 29, 2015.

More than 7,500 people have been killed and over 14,000 others injured since the strikes began. The Saudi war has also taken a heavy toll on the Arabian Peninsula country’s facilities and infrastructure.

Saudi arms suppliers

Meanwhile, Lama Fakih, the senior crisis adviser at Amnesty, said it is "appalling that the US and other allies" of Riyadh "have continued to authorize arms transfers" to Saudi Arabia for bombing Yemen.

Last month, the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) likewise said Washington had to stop selling bombs to Saudi Arabia while Riyadh was engaged in war on neighboring Yemen.

“The US government is well aware of" the Saudi "indiscriminate air attacks that have killed hundreds of civilians in Yemen since March,” said HRW Deputy Middle East and North Africa Director Joe Stork.

“Providing the Saudis with more bombs under these circumstances is a recipe for greater civilian deaths, for which the US will be partially responsible,” he added.

Also in November, the US Defense Department announced that it had approved the sale of smart bombs worth USD 1.29 billion to Saudi Arabia, and that it was committed to supporting the Royal Saudi Air Force in the bombardment of Yemen.

http://en.abna24.com/service/middle-east-west-asia/archive/2015/12/11/724241/story.html