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.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
RSS