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Saudi warplanes attack Iranian embassy in Yemen – Iran
Iranian
embassy in Sanaa. © Mohammed Huwais / AFP
RT,
7
January, 2016
Iran
has accused Saudi Arabia of using warplanes to attack the Iranian
embassy in the Yemeni capital Sana'a. Some guards were reportedly
wounded in the attack, according to state news channel IRIB.
The
Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen says it will investigate the
accusation, according to coalition spokesman Brigadier General
Ahmed Asseri, as cited by Reuters.
Asseri
acknowledged that coalition jets carried out heavy airstrikes in
Sana'a on Wednesday night, targeting missile launchers used by the
Houthi militia. He added that the group has used civilian
facilities, including abandoned embassies.
He
said the coalition had requested that all countries supply the
coordinates of their diplomatic missions, adding that
accusations made on the basis of information provided by the
Houthis "have
no credibility."
The
Saudi-led coalition, which is supported by the US, is targeting
Houthi rebels aligned with former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who
resigned in 2012 following a popular uprising against his rule.
The
coalition has been heavily criticized for the way it conducts its
airstrikes, and was accused of attacking a center for the blind in
Yemen on Tuesday. It was also blamed for hitting a Doctors Without
Borders hospital in Sanaa in December.
The
instability in Yemen began during the Arab Spring protests in 2011.
In 2014, Houthi Shiite rebels supported by pro-Saleh forces rose up
and seized large territories in Yemen, including Sanaa.
The
death toll from fighting in Yemen had reached 2,795 as of Tuesday,
according to the UN. At least 81 people were killed in December
alone.
The
Thursday allegation came as Iran banned the import
of all products made in Saudi Arabia. The decision was made in a
cabinet meeting chaired by President Hassan Rouhani, according
to Iranian student news agency ISNA.
The
cabinet also reaffirmed a ban on Umrah pilgrimages to Mecca, which
was first imposed in April after an alleged sexual assault on two
male Iranians by Saudi airport guards.
On
Sunday, Saudi Arabia severed ties with Iran over the storming of its
embassy in Tehran. The move came just one day after Saudi authorities
executed a prominent Shia cleric.
US-made cluster bombs used by Saudi-led coalition in Yemen attacks - HRW
People
gather at the site of a Saudi-led air strike in Yemen's capital Sanaa
January 6, 2016. © Khaled Abdullah / Reuters
RT,
7
January, 2016
Cluster
munitions sold to Saudi Arabia by the US were used in attacks on
residential neighborhoods in Yemen's capital of Sanaa, Human Rights
Watch (HRW) said, calling for an international inquiry into the
alleged war crime.
Saudi-led
coalition forces seriously violated the laws of war by airdropping
the "indiscriminate
weapon"
on populated areas in the Yemeni capital on January 6, HRW said in
a report published
on Thursday.
"The
coalition's repeated use of cluster bombs in the middle of a crowded
city suggests an intent to harm civilians, which is a war crime,"
HRW arms director Steve Goose said, adding that these attacks are
"outrageous."
While
no civilian casualties of the attacks on Wednesday have been reported
as yet, cluster munitions have damaged residential buildings and
cars, HRW said citing eyewitnesses. "Many
homes and a local kindergarten with newly pockmarked walls and broken
windows"
could be seen in the attacked residential areas, the human rights
organization said.
HRW
also oversees an international treaty banning cluster munitions.
"Human
Rights Watch viewed photographs taken on January 6 in Sanaa that
showed unmistakable remnants of cluster munitions, including
unexploded submunitions,"
HRW dded.
The
nearest "small"
military targets including an office and a garage used by military
guards, at which the strikes might have been directed, were hundreds
of meters from the populated areas that were hit. "The
use of cluster munitions meant they [the attacks] were still
unlawful,"
the organization said.
The
human rights advocacy group identified the munitions "as
US-made BLU-63 antipersonnel/anti-material submunitions and
components of a CBU-58 cluster bomb."
It
added that parts of the bomb remnants had markings indicating that it
was manufactured in the US in 1978. According to US export records
obtained by HRW, Washington transferred 1,000 such bombs to Saudi
Arabia sometime between 1970 and 1995.
"The
US is a party to the armed conflict in Yemen, playing a direct role
in coordinating military operations, and as such, is obligated to
investigate alleged violations of the laws of war in which its forces
took part,"
HRW said in its report, adding that an independent, international
inquiry into the alleged violations should be set up by the UN Human
Rights Council.
"It
may have been 20 years since the US last provided cluster munitions
to the Saudis, but they are being used to kill civilians now,"
Goose said, adding that if the US fails to prevent any further use of
such munitions by the coalition, it risks "becoming
complicit in their use."
Nearly
2,800 civilians have been killed in the ongoing conflict in Yemen,
the UN said earlier this week. At the start of the year it
was reported that
the Saudi-led coalition might resume its bombing raids on Houthi
anti-government forces in Yemen, after it decided to end a previously
agreed ceasefire
INTERNATIONAL MILITARY REVIEW – YEMEN, JAN. 6, 2016
Dear
friends,
At
your requests, SouthFront is launching “International Military
Review – Yemen” series. Surely, we have been also continuing to
produce Syria-Iraq reports. Thus, you are able to follow 2 Middle
Eastern conflicts with SouthFront animated maps instead of 1.
Sincerely
yours,
SouthFront:
Analysis & Intelligence Team
On
Jan.5, the Yemeni army and popular forces loyal to the Houthi
movement thwarted an attempt by the Saudi-led coalition’s forces to
enter Yemen from the Jizan province through the border crossing of
Tawwal. According to the reports, the both sides suffered
causalities.
The
clashes in this area have been especially heavy since the Houthi
alliance captured the villages of Khobe, Qarn and Sahabakh inside the
Jizan region of Saudi Arabia on Jan.4. The several coalition
combatants were also killed.
The
Saudi military base in the Alhajleh region of Najran province came
under the Houthi forces’ attack. The pro-Yemeni sources argue that
the Houthi forces killed tens of Saudi military servicemen and
captured the military base.
In
a separate development, the Houthis captured the village of
Al-Huwaymi in the Al-Lajh province in Southern Yemen. Now, the Houthi
forces are advancing to the town of Kirsh.
The
Saudi Air Force launched a number of airstrikes over the Yemeni
capital of Sanaa on Tuesday morning. Over 40 civilians were killed
and wounded and several civilian sites were damaged. Separately, the
Saudi warplanes conducted air raids in the Yemeni province of Sa’ada.
On
Jan.5, Hassan Hamoud Uqlan, a known field commander of ISIS in the
Tha’bat district of Ta’izz Province was killed in the clashes
with fighters of the Houthi movement and military units. Openly, ISIS
controls only separate areas in Yemen, however, a significant
incensement of the terrorist group’s activity have been observed
since the start of the Saudi-led coalition’s military operations in
the country
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