Human Rights Group Calls on UN to Probe Saudi Coalition Crimes in Yemen

Amnesty International called on the United Nations to examine alleged crimes committed by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — An international human rights group called on the United Nations on Friday to examine alleged crimes committed by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen after its recent airstrike in Sanaa killed civilians.

"There is an urgent need to put Saudi Arabia under scrutiny for the raft of crimes under international law and other human rights violations its forces have committed in Yemen," Lynn Maalouf, the Middle East Research Director at Amnesty International, said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, an airstrike on the district of Faj Attan in Sanaa killed 14 people and wounded over 10 others. At least five of the victims were children. This comes a year after the UN excluded the Saudi-led coalition from its blacklist of child rights violators despite harsh criticism from rights watchdogs.

The UN Human Rights Office has estimated that at least 58 civilians have been killed in Yemen over the past week, including 42 slaughtered in attacks attributed to the Saudi-led forces.

Yemen has been engulfed in a violent conflict between the government headed by Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and the Houthi movement, backed by troops loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The government receives air and land support from the Saudis. The Houthis routinely respond with rocket attacks at the Saudi border.