RIYADH: Investigators have cleared a Saudi-led military alliance of alleged human rights violations in Yemen.
The Joint Assessment Team on Wednesday said it had dismissed claims by human rights organizations that the coalition had carried out airstrikes, including one on the Bir Zeid Health Unit in Ketaf Al-Boqa’a district in 2015.
The JIAT conducted an inquiry into three allegations of so-called operational misbehavior made against the alliance.
Medical care charity Physicians for Human Rights reported the coalition for what it described as a bombing mission on the health unit on Aug. 17, 2015. However, Mansour Al-Mansour, team spokesman, said the investigation had concluded that the coalition’s nearest military target on that date was 700 meters away from the location.
Another claim — made by the spokeswoman of the UN Human Rights Office in 2021 — related to an alleged airstrike hitting a pickup car and causing several casualties in the Markhah Al-Ulya district of Shabwah Governorate on Sept. 18, 2021.
Al-Mansour pointed out that the Markhah Al-Ulya district is located in the southwestern part of the Shabwah Governorate, and that the coalition forces received intelligence indicating that the Iran-backed Houthi militia had taken control of Al-Musawarah village in Al-Baydha Governorate and was advancing toward Markhah Al-Ulya.
It was concluded that coalition forces carried out an air mission on a legitimate military target, a pickup vehicle belonging to the Houthi militia, using one guided bomb that hit its target.
It was also found that the coalition forces had taken all possible precautions to avoid loss of life and accidental damage during the execution of the military operation.
The JIAT also exonerated the coalition over an alleged human rights breach relating to a child who was injured while playing outside her house at the time of a nearby airstrike in Bait Al-Rahal village in the Al-Ma’asil area of the Al-Jarahi district of Al-Hodeidah Governorate.
The claim was made by the representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Yemen on Feb. 2, 2022.
The team found that after reviewing all documents, including air tasking orders and the daily mission schedule, that coalition forces did not carry out any air missions in Al-Hodeidah Governorate either before or after the claimed date, and that such a house was not targeted on the stated date, as had been claimed.
