Rebels have ‘violated laws of war’ in Yemen, says rights group

“Pro-Houthi forces have been raining mortar shells and rockets on to populated areas of Aden with no apparent regard for the civilians remaining there,” says Human Rights Watch.

A UAE ship carrying humanitarian aid supplies arrived in the port of Aden on July 30, 2015. Wam

DUBAI // Rebel forces in Yemen have fired shells and rockets indiscriminately into civilian neighbourhoods in the southern port city of Aden, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.

In the deadliest such attack, which took place on July 19 in the district of Dar Saad, mortar fire killed several dozen civilians, including children, it said.

Anti-government forces including Houthi rebels had acted “in violation of the laws of war”, the rights group added. It called on these forces to “immediately cease indiscriminate attacks” on populated areas.

The allegations came as a vessel docked in Aden, carrying the latest humanitarian shipment from the UAE.

The cargo included food and medical supplies to help alleviate the suffering of Yemen’s civilians, and was delivered under the international humanitarian relief efforts implemented by the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation.

“Pro-Houthi forces have been raining mortar shells and rockets on to populated areas of Aden with no apparent regard for the civilians remaining there,” said HRW’s senior emergencies researcher, Ole Solvang.

“These unlawful attacks take a terrible human toll and should stop immediately.

“Houthi leaders should realise that they could face a war crimes trial for ordering or even just overseeing indiscriminate rocket attacks on civilian neighbourhoods,” Mr Solvang added.

Local officials said on Thursday that pro-government forces backed by Saudi-led coalition air strikes had recaptured positions on the outskirts of Aden that were used by the Houthi rebels to fire rockets into the city.

These forces, who retook Aden from the Iran-allied Houthis on July 17, seized the town of Muthalath Al Ilm, at Aden’s eastern entrance, the officials said.

The fighters, who call themselves the Southern Resistance forces, also recaptured neighbourhoods to the north of Aden, including Ya’wala, Al Basateen and Qariat Al Falahi.

The officials said that the two sides were still fighting in Al Houta, the capital of the southern province of Lahj – 30 kilometres from Aden – where clashes have persisted for several days.

Meanwhile, Saudi-led air raids targeted locations across the south on Thursday, including Dhalea and Aland airbase, the Houthis’ Saba news agency said, quoting a security source at Yemen’s interior ministry.

The Houthis, along with allied forces loyal to former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh, have been battling forces loyal to exiled president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi in and around Aden for months.

A nationwide pause proposed by the coalition failed to take hold this week, threatening the delivery of vital aid to people affected by the violence.

Four months of fighting have killed almost 4,000 people, nearly half of them civilians, according to the United Nations.

The head of aid group Doctors Without Borders said on Thursday that more needed to be done to ensure that medicine reaches Yemen’s sick.

During a visit to the country Joanne Liu said that she understood the need for the Saudi-led coalition to enforce a blockade of Yemen, where the Houthis are under a United Nations security council arms embargo.

“But we need to put in place ways to get supplies to come in, in a safe way, and people can get their medicine and not die” of easily treatable diseases.

Also on Thursday, a local official said that a suspected US drone strike had killed five presumed members of Al Qaeda in Southern Yemen.

A vehicle carrying the men was hit overnight as it travelled through Wadi Dikha in the province of Abyan, after it had set off from the southern city of Mukalla, a bastion of Al Qaeda.

A local Al Qaeda chief named as Abu Ahmad Al Kazimi was among those killed in the strike, said the official.

Other local officials, along with residents, said that four suspected members of the Al Qaeda affiliated Ansar Al Sharia militant group had been killed in the strike.

The United States is the only country known to operate armed drones over Yemen, and attacks by the unmanned aircraft have continued during the past four months of fighting.

In June, the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula – considered by Washington to be Al Qaeda’s most dangerous franchise – announced the death of its Yemen commander, Nasir Al Wuhayshi, in a US drone attack.

AQAP was behind several plots against Western targets and claimed the January massacre at French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris.

The group has taken advantage of the chaos gripping Yemen to make territorial gains in the south, including taking control of Mukalla, the capital of the vast desert province of Hadramawt.

* Agence France-Presse and Reuters