Human Rights Watch (HRW) yesterday accused Yemeni rebels of committing “possible war crimes” and urged all parties in the conflict to protect civilians.
The New York-based watchdog said rebel forces shot and killed two women in the main southern city of Aden last month and also unlawfully detained 10 local aid workers for up to two weeks.
“The incidents, possible war crimes, exemplify the grave threats to civilians in the embattled southern seaport,” HRW said.
Photo: Reuters
HRW deputy Middle East and North Africa director Joe Stork said that “the difficulty of investigating the fighting in Yemen may mean abuses like these in Aden are just the tip of the iceberg.”
He urged all fighters on the ground as well as the Saudi-led coalition carrying out air strikes against rebel positions across Yemen “to take steps to abide by the laws of war.”
At least 38 civilians were killed on Wednesday and 95 were wounded, including women and children, when shelling hit people trying to escape Aden by sea, according to a new toll given by city health head al-Khader Laswar.
Health officials and a spokesman for militia forces loyal to exiled Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi blamed the rebels for the shelling.
Pro-Hadi forces, including military units and militias, have been battling Iran-backed Houthi rebels and their allies for weeks in Aden.
Hadi’s supporters have been backed by air strikes from a Saudi-led coalition that has imposed an air and naval blockade on the country.
“Aden’s civilians are already in dire straits, without being attacked, detained, and held hostage,” Stork said. “Leaders of the Houthis and other forces need to protect civilians, not abuse and terrorize them.”
The rebels have been battling to take control of Aden’s Tawahi neighborhood, which houses the pro-Hadi Aden TV.
HRW’s accusations come one day after Yemeni Ambassador to the UN Khaled Alyemany on Wednesday called for a ground intervention to push back a Houthi rebel offensive in the south of a country.
The Yemeni mission also urged rights organizations to document “barbaric violations” allegedly carried out by the Iran-backed Houthis in Aden and other cities.
“We urge the international community to quickly intervene by land forces to save Yemen, especially Aden and Taiz,” Alyemany said in a letter sent to the UN Security Council.
The appeal from Yemen at the UN came as new UN peace envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed was en route to Riyadh for talks on relaunching talks on a political solution.
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