YEMEN
We must end American logistical and intelligence support for the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen at once. In April 2019, Donald Trump vetoed legislation that would have accomplished this, after the bill passed the House and was approved by the Senate. The following month, the Senate vote was insufficient to override the veto.
Saudi Arabia’s incessant bombing against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels has turned into a humanitarian disaster.
The United States should suspend military sales to Saudi Arabia, plus impose sanctions for the war crimes Saudi Arabia has committed in Yemen, as well as for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Read more here.
Saudi Arabia has reinforced its concrete-filled security barrier along sections of the fully demarcated border with Yemen to stem illegal cross-border activities.
The Huthi movement in Yemen and the Saudi-led coalition, which supports the Yemeni Government, remain far apart in negotiating an end to the conflict, and neither side seems prepared for the kind of compromise needed to end the fighting, suggesting the humanitarian crisis will continue. The coalition, buoyed by military gains in the past year, seems fixed on a Huthi withdrawal from Sanaa and significant Huthi disarmament. These terms remain unacceptable to the Huthis, who believe they can use external attacks to threaten Saudi Arabia and the UAE, undercut Saudi and UAE public support for the conflict, and draw international condemnation of the coalition’s intervention in Yemen. The humanitarian impacts of the conflict in Yemen — including, famine, disease, and internal displacement — will be acute in 2019 and could easily worsen if the coalition cuts key supply lines to Sanaa. The fighting has left more than 22 million people, or approximately 75 percent of the population, in need of assistance, with millions of people at severe risk of famine by the UN definition — numbers that are likely to rise quickly if disruptions to aid access continue.
- 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community
The conflict between the Saudi-led coalition and Houthi forces has exacerbated the dire humanitarian situation and taken a terrible toll on Yemeni civilians. The coalition’s scores of indiscriminate airstrikes have killed and wounded thousands of civilians in violation of the laws of war. Houthi forces have fired artillery indiscriminately into Yemeni cities and launched rockets into populated areas of Saudi Arabia. The coalition has used banned cluster munitions; the Houthis banned landmines. The Houthis, pro-government forces, and United Arab Emirates-backed forces have arbitrarily detained, abused or “disappeared” scores. The US conducted ground raids and drone strikes against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the local Islamic State affiliate, causing civilian casualties.
- Human Rights Watch
All parties to the continuing armed conflict committed war crimes and other serious violations of international law, with inadequate accountability measures in place to ensure justice and reparation to victims. The Saudi Arabia-led coalition supporting the internationally recognized Yemeni government continued to bomb civilian infrastructure and carried out indiscriminate attacks, killing and injuring civilians. The Huthi-Saleh forces indiscriminately shelled civilian residential areas in Ta’iz city and fired artillery indiscriminately across the border into Saudi Arabia, killing and injuring civilians. The Yemeni government, Huthi-Saleh forces and Yemeni forces aligned to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) engaged in illegal detention practices including enforced disappearance and torture and other ill-treatment. Women and girls continued to face entrenched discrimination and other abuses, including forced and early marriage and domestic violence. The death penalty remained in force; no information was publicly available on death sentences or executions. The UN reported that the Saudi Arabia-led coalition supporting President Hadi’s government continued to be the leading cause of civilian casualties in the conflict. The coalition continued to commit serious violations of international human rights law and humanitarian law with impunity. Coalition aircraft carried out bomb attacks on areas controlled or contested by Huthi forces and their allies, particularly in the Sana’a, Ta’iz, Hajjah, Hodeidah and Sa’da governorates, killing and injuring thousands of civilians. Many coalition attacks were directed at military targets, but others were indiscriminate, disproportionate or directed against civilians and civilian objects, including funeral gatherings, schools, markets, residential areas and civilian boats. Huthi and allied forces, including army units loyal to former President Saleh, continued to employ tactics that appeared to violate the prohibition of indiscriminate attacks. They indiscriminately fired explosive munitions with wide-area effects, including mortars and artillery shells, into residential areas controlled or contested by opposing forces, killing and injuring civilians.
- Amnesty International