HRW: Saudi Strikes Hit Homes, Markets in Yemen, Attacks Unlawful

Human Rights Watch said that Saudi-led coalition air strikes on the Yemeni city of Saada have destroyed houses, markets and a school, killing dozens of people in what could amount to war crimes.

The New York-based rights group said it had investigated the attacks on the northern city of Sadaa and found that at least 59 people had died in a month, from April 6 to May 11, including 14 women and 35 children.

Satellite imagery showed over 210 impact locations in the city, damaging or destroying hundreds of buildings, said the HRW report.

Six houses were hit in Saada, as were an empty school, a cultural center, five markets and a petrol station crowded with motorists, the report noted.

In one of the deadliest incidents, a bombing raid on May 6 killed 27 members of one family including 17 children.

Attacks on houses alone have killed 51 people, all of them civilians, according to Human Rights Watch, which dispatched two researchers to the city last month to interview witnesses.

"Not only were these attacks unlawful because of the apparent absence of any military target, but they contributed to civilian hardship in the city, where people are suffering from shortages of food, water, and fuel," said the report.

Human Rights Watch called on the coalition to investigate the attacks that have apparently targeted civilians and would constitute a violation of international humanitarian law.

Yemen has been since March 26 under brutal aggression by Saudi-led coalition. Thousands have been martyred and injured in the attack, with the vast majority of them are civilians.

Riyadh launched the attack on Yemen in a bid to restore power to Yemen’s fugitive president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi who is a close ally to Saudi Arabia.