Source: Fars News
The United States army supported a Saudi airstrike that hit a bus carrying schoolchildren in Sa’ada, Northern Yemen On August 9.

The students were on a recreational trip. According to the Sa’ada health department, the heartbreaking attack killed at least 51 people. Also according to the International Committee of the Red Cross, at least 40 of those killed were school children, and tens of others were wounded, again mostly children.

If this kind of behavior in the conduct of armed conflict is not the very concept of war crime we don’t know what is. As per The Hague Conventions adopted in 1907, warring parties cannot use certain means and methods of warfare. Notably the four 1949 Geneva Conventions and the two 1977 Additional Protocols also focus on the protection of persons not taking part in hostilities. Both Hague Law and Geneva Law identify several of the violations of its norms in the ongoing US-backed, Saudi-led war on Yemen as war crimes. These war crimes can be found in both international humanitarian law and international criminal law treaties, as well as in international customary law as well.

Moreover, the 1949 Geneva Conventions have been ratified by the United States and Saudi Arabia. Many of the rules contained in these treaties have been considered as part of customary law and, as such, are binding on all those countries that have waged an illegal war on the poorest country in the Arab world.

Given what happened on August 9 in Sa’ada, Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court has jurisdiction in respect of US-backed, Saudi war crimes in particular when committed as part of a plan or policy or as part of a large-scale commission of such crimes that are specifically, deliberately and willfully designed to target school children and populated areas in Yemen.

Other breaches include destruction of property protected under the provisions of the relevant Geneva Convention, torture and inhuman treatment of Yemenis in UAE-run prisons, an illegal blockade that is willfully causing great suffering for millions of civilians in besieged cities and communities, extensive destruction and wanton appropriation of schools, hospitals and installations, and intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population.

The important part here is that the United States army has had a heavy hand in all this. The US is supporting the Saudis to commit these grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions in the knowledge that such attacks will cause incidental loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects or widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment which are clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated.

Since the illegal invasion in August of 2015, the US has further sold the Saudis precision-guided munitions; funneled tanks, planes, bombs, and targeting intelligence to Saudi defense officials; and provided material support during bombing runs. Despite increasing reports documenting repeated targeting of Yemeni civilians by Saudi warplanes, with new UN estimates that over 17,000 people have been killed, the Trump administration still intends to resupply Riyadh’s arsenal.

These actions are as reprehensible as they are illegal. Weaponizing the Saudis and the multiple, repeated airstrikes on civilians supported by the US are war crimes. Hospitals, schools, markets and wedding parties are not legitimate military targets. The Americans are either intentionally helping the Saudis target civilians or are deliberately indifferent to the execution of such military operations – either case flies in the face of long-standing international standards of conduct.

Tragic as the August 9’s immoral and unlawful airstrike was, there will be no victory for Saudi Arabia and the United States in Yemen. The Americans have no justification to be there and certainly no reason to help Saudis murder innocent school kids in broad daylight either. As per the 1949 Geneva Conventions, the United States is complicit in this callous campaign of murder and destruction and the only clear outcome for the US government has to be further international condemnation, humiliation and shame.

There are international law obligations to accountability and transparency and the world community is expected to push the Saudis and their American partners to stop this madness, to end their wanton disregard for civilian lives, and to be accountable on their crimes against humanity in Yemen.

Source: Press TV
The Saudi-led assault on the Yemeni port city of Hudaydah has led to mass displacement of people from the strategic area.

“Such an offensive against a city with over 600,000 inhabitants is a gross violation of international law. Yemeni officials say unless a lasting and peaceful settlement is reached, people here will fight until they die honorably,” Hudaydah’s Deputy Governor Abdul-Rahman al-Jomai told Press TV’s correspondent.

Ahmad al-Wisabi, whose family has been forced to leave, said, “The Saudi offensive against our city and possible street battles have forced me to leave my home, and move my family to [the capital] Sana’a. I do not know how I can manage there as I have already lost my source of income here. But I do not have any other choice.”

On Friday, Yemenis took to the streets in Hudaydah to vent their anger against the Saudi aggression and condemn Riyadh and its allies for bombing residential areas and killing civilians.

The protesters voiced their support to the Yemeni army and popular committees in their battle against the Saudi invaders and their mercenaries. The Saudi-led alliance has been waging a battle since June 13 to occupy the port city of al-Hudaydah, which is a key entry point for the country’s humanitarian aid.

Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement which has been defending the country against the invaders together with its allies has, however, refused to give up the port.

In a statement, the protesters also condemned the stance of the UN on the humanitarian crisis in Hudaydah, considering the world body’s silence as evidence of its complicity in the aggression and its support for the occupier.

During the protest, the deputy governor of Hudaydah, Sheikh Ali Qeshr, stressed that the province will be turned into “a graveyard for any aggressor” by Yemeni forces.

Saudi Arabia launched the war on its southern impoverished neighbor to restore its Saudi-allied former officials. Yemen’s Health Ministry says more than 600,000 people have either been killed or injured during the three-year-old invasion.

The combination of the war and blockade has sparked a humanitarian crisis and brought Yemen to the edge of famine.

By Ben Norton
Source: The Real News
A military coalition formally led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and supported by the United States and Britain, bombed a newly constructed cholera treatment in Yemen on Monday, June 11.

This attack comes after Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East, suffered through the worst cholera outbreak in recorded history, with more than 1 million cases reported in 2017 alone.

The cholera treatment center was operated by the humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders (known in French as Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF). It was located in Yemen’s northwestern Hajjah Governorate, an area that has been heavily bombarded by Saudi Arabia for more than 3 years.

MSF said in a statement that the cholera treatment center had markings on the roof that clearly identified it as a healthcare facility. It added that the center has been destroyed and is now completely non-functional.

The U.S.-backed Saudi coalition has repeatedly bombed medical facilities in Yemen, including several operated by MSF.

The humanitarian organization tweeted photos showing the aftermath of the air attack.

João Martins, who directs MSF’s work in Yemen, said the airstrike “shows complete disrespect for medical facilities and patients.”

“Whether intentional or a result of negligence, it is totally unacceptable,” he said. “The compound was clearly marked as a health facility and its coordinates were shared with the SELC (Saudi and Emirati-led coalition).”

“With only half of health facilities in Yemen fully functional, nearly 10 million people in acute need, and an anticipated outbreak of cholera, the CTC (cholera treatment center) had been built to save lives,” Martins added.

No civilians were killed in this attack.

Saudi Arabia has in the past bombed numerous hospitals and other medical facilities in Yemen run by MSF, killing dozens of civilians. Some of these attacks have involved “double-tap strikes,” in which the coalition has returned minutes later to bomb first responders.

The military coalition has bombed Yemen since March 2015 in an attempt to push the rebel Houthi movement, which is formally known as Ansar Allah, out of power.

Although the coalition is formally led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, it enjoys significant assistance from the U.S. and U.K. Both countries have done hundreds of billions of dollars in arms deals with the Gulf regimes. Moreover, U.S. planes refuel Saudi jets, and American and British military officials have even physically been in the operation room for Saudi bombing.

Thousands of civilians have been killed by Saudi air strikes, which have devastated Yemen’s civilian infrastructure.

Due to the war, the medical system has effectively collapsed. Fewer than half the health facilitates in the majority of Yemen’s governorates are operational, and thousands of medical workers have gone more than a year without payment.

The United Nations World Health Organization reported in December that the number of suspected cholera cases in Yemen had reached a staggering 1 million, and this staggering figure has increased since then.

Despite this unparalleled humanitarian crisis, the UAE is pushing to accelerate the war in Yemen’s southwest. The U.S.-backed coalition is moving to attack the port city of Hodeida, which the U.N. has warned could lead to a massive catastrophe, in which millions of civilians starve.

Source: RT
A Saudi-led coalition airstrike killed at least 12 civilians, including seven children, in the coastal city of Hodeidah on Monday, media reports citing medics and witnesses. The 12 victims were all reported to be from the same family.

People on the ground said the blast destroyed a house in the al-Hali district of the city. Hodeidah is home to the largest port in war-torn Yemen. It’s the main distribution point for aid for the millions of civilians on the brink of famine following the three-year conflict.

Saudi Arabia and its allies intervened in Yemen’s civil war in 2015. The kingdom has imposed a naval and air blockade on Yemen, the poorest country on the Arabian peninsula.

The conflict has so far killed an estimated 10,000 people and displaced more than 2 million, leaving many in the country on the verge of starvation.

Further to the blockade the coalition has conducted over 16,600 air raids, with roughly a third of them targeting non-military sites. Amnesty International says at least 36 of them violated international laws and may have constituted war crimes. With 130 children dying in Yemen every day, the conflict has been described as the “world’s worst humanitarian disaster.”

Source: Yemen Press
Charity organizations have called on the UN to blacklist the Saudi-led coalition over serious violations of children’s rights in Yemen as statistics reveal massive child fatalities caused by the ongoing war against the impoverished nation.

According to a joint report prepared by Save the Children and Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, the Saudi-led coalition committed “grave violations against children” in a series of 23 attacks on civilian sites, including hospitals and schools, in 2016, the Guardian reported on Thursday.

The campaigners urged the UN to highlight the crimes committed by the Saudi-led alliance, including massive killing and maiming of Yemeni children, in its annual report on child rights violations in conflict, expected to be released in August.

The annual UN report incorporates a blacklist of countries and groups that have committed violations such as killing or maiming children, recruiting children, abduction, sexual violence, or attacking schools or hospitals.

In 2016, Saudi Arabia forced the UN to omit the coalition’s name from the blacklist, after the annual report revealed that the coalition was responsible for 60 percent of child deaths and injuries in Yemen in 2015. The decision drew criticism from rights groups which accused the UN of succumbing to Riyadh’s political pressure.

According to some statistics, as a result of the Saudi-led war on Yemen, over 4,000 children have been killed or injured, while a further 2.2 million under five are acutely malnourished. Meanwhile, a growing cholera epidemic has also affected over 118,000 children.

In a single Saudi-led airstrike on a market in Mastaba district in February 2016, 25 children were killed. In October, the Saudi warplanes targeted a funeral in the capital city of Sana’a, killing 100 people and wounding 500, with the number of children killed unknown.

Save the Children warned that the UN will set a dangerous precedent for international conflicts if it does not include the Saudi-led coalition on this year’s list.

“If there is no accountability, if groups that are fighting think they can use their political influence – and if they are powerful enough and rich enough, then they can get away with killing and injuring children, or bombing schools and hospitals – it sets a really dangerous precedent not just for Yemen but for conflicts around the world,” said Caroline Anning, senior conflict and humanitarian advocacy adviser at Save the Children.

“[Children] are facing threats from all sides, they have got the threat of airstrikes from above, which are continuous – just in the past few weeks we have seen [bombs] landing on marketplaces where civilians have been killed,” she added.

“Huge numbers of children are on the brink of starvation. The airstrikes have contributed to the collapse of the health system, there are huge numbers of kids who cannot get any healthcare, there is a massive cholera epidemic spreading across the country, millions of children are out of schools,” Anning pointed out.

The charities argue that inclusion of Saudi Arabia on the UN’s blacklist would make it harder for the US and the UK to continue arms exports or diplomatic support for Riyadh.

Last week, Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) lost a high-profile case calling for UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia to be stopped over humanitarian concerns about civilian death toll in Yemen, after a high court in London ruled that the arms exports to Riyadh could continue.

“The government may have won a legal victory but the moral case is clear: the Saudi-led coalition is killing children, and Britain is supplying Saudi Arabia with arms,” said George Graham, Save the Children’s director of humanitarian and conflict policy.

Saudi Arabia has been leading a destructive military campaign against Yemen since March 2015 to reinstate former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and crush the Houthi movement.

The campaign has seriously damaged the country’s infrastructure. Local Yemeni sources have put the death toll from the Saudi war at over 12,000, including many women and children.

The conflict has also left more than 17 million people in the country food-insecure, with some 6.8 million of them in need of immediate aid.

The destruction of Yemen’s health sector during the war has made it difficult to deal with the growing cholera epidemic in the country.

The UN has warned that suspected cholera cases across Yemen has surpassed 320,000 while at least 1,740 had lost their lives after being infected.

On July 12, UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs Stephen O’Brien blamed Yemen’s cholera crisis on the perpetrators and their foreign supporters of the ongoing war against the impoverished country.

The US and the UK have been the main purveyors of weapons, training and intelligence to Saudis during the course of the unprovoked war, which began in March 2015.

Source: NEO

Lately we’ve been witnessing an ever increasing number of reports and non-conspiratorial facts that expose an alliance that exists between Western liberals and jihadists. It’s hardly a secret that in Libya NATO fought a war on behalf of al-Qaeda and other radical groups to topple the legitimate government of what used to be the most prosperous and stable African state. Countries like Britain even used their intelligence services to help bring latent jihadists, some of whom were under police surveillance, in a bid to topple the government of Muammar Gaddafi.

Even today such states as the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Netherlands, and Belgium are not just sponsoring radical militants across the Middle East and arming them, they are effectively providing close air support to radical forces in Syria, while helping the Saudis to aid the Wahhabist cause in Yemen.

A prominent alternative media source The Duran would note:

ISIS and al-Qaeda want to destroy secular, progressive, modern Arab governments whether Ba’athist, Nasserist or in the case of Libya one based on the Third International Theory–western leaders want the same. Jihadists believe it is their duty to replace secular governments with theocracy–western leaders back them up. Countries like secular France, Israel, Germany the US and UK don’t like to talk about the fact that Libya was a secular state with mass literacy, women’s rights, protections and safety for black people and high living standards.

Western government have been providing all sorts of assistance to radical terrorists right under our noses, acting on the pretext that they are assisting non-existent moderate rebels groups. In reality certain detachment of ISIS would pretend to be member of the so-called opposition forces in the morning, only to butcher civilians by hundreds in the evening. It comes as no surprise that recently the Salon magazine would publish a detailed report of the crimes against humanity committed by the so-called ‘moderate rebels’ in Syria, since there’s a long list of those being committed on the daily basis.

The efforts undertaken by governments, special services, civil society institutions of the Western world to support those so-called ‘moderate forces’ will inevitably lead to the continuation of the string of terrorist attacks in Western states, leading to the ever growing hatred that most Europeans have recently experienced towards Muslims.

The divide between various social and religious groups across the EU will become even deeper with every new terrorist attack. This development will transform those Muslims who have nothing in common with radical militants into outcasts, that are going to be unwelcome in most any European state. This will make the attempts to radicalize those groups that are being routinely taken by ISIS into a pretty simple task.

This means that after some time the Islamic State will become capable of enlisting enough outcasts to create a rouge army in the EU. The question is where will this army launch a jihad against the infidels in the Middle East or in Europe itself?

The ideas voiced by certain individual experts about the need to put an end to the exodus of Muslims from the conflict zones in the Middle East and North Africa look delusional at best. Judge for yourself, no European state will agree to invest massive financial resources in the rebuilding the destroyed economies of Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, in a bid to create more or less decent living conditions for local residents that are fleeing their home towns in search for a better life in Europe.

Therefore, the ongoing fighting in those regions will only lead to an increase in the level of radicalization among local young people, who forced into exile and deprived of the decent and humane treatment that any individual is entitled to get.

The programs aimed at the de-radicalization introduced by a number of EU countries, in fact, are not only falling short of the expected effect, but just fail. This is especially true of the program of de-radicalization of French youth, that was adopted last May. Its failure is being manifested by the reports of two members of the French Senate: Esther Benbassa and Catherine Troendlé. Those ladies drafted a document that goes under the title of “Désendoctrinement, désensbrigadement et réinsertion des djihadistes en France et en Europe.” In short, this report subjects the attempts create centers of to deradicalization taken by the French government to an extensive amount of criticism, since local authorities have not simply failed to achieve their stated goals, but compromised the very idea of creating such centers.

Therefore, it is only logical that an ever increasing number of experts in various countries of the world has come to grips with the fact that the military defeat of ISIS in Syria and Iraq will not put an end to the string of terrorist attacks in Europe. That is why the problem of radicalization is, above all, the problem of European societies, and it must be solved in Europe. The Die Presse, for instance, seems convinced that it’s the only hope the EU has to put an end to the problem of terrorism.

For Germany, the defeats that the Islamic State is suffering in Syria is major security risk, since the more pressure is exerted on jihadists, the higher the threat of terrorist attacks in Western Europe, notes Christoph Wanner, a correspondent for the German TV channel N24.

That is why today the European political forces, just like their colleagues from across the ocean, must take decisive efforts in a bid put an end to radicalization of local Muslim communities and counter the spread of ISIS’ poisonous ideology.

Grete Mautner is an independent researcher and journalist from Germany, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”