NRC slams deadly Saudi Air strikes on Sana’a

SANAA, May 8 (YPA) –  The Norwegian Refugee Council has condemned Saudi Arabia’s latest airstrikes on Yemen which it said targeted regions close to homes of its staff in the capital city.

“The Norwegian Refugee Council is appalled by Saudi-led coalition strikes on a highly-populated business district in Sana’a earlier today. We abhor the ongoing use of violence to intimidate civilian populations under the guise of efforts to protect them. Yemeni people are not collateral. Adherence to the laws of war is not optional,” said the aid group in a statement released on Monday.

“ Yemeni people are not collateral. Adherence to the laws of war is not optional,” the acting country director for the Norwegian Refugee Council in Yemen, Suze van Meegen said in a statement obtained by Yemen Press Agency.

The strikes that took place in Sana’a today are more visible to us because of their proximity to the homes of our staff but follow a trend of underreported attacks on civilians across the country, she added.

In recent weeks, Yemeni civilians have been killed in their homes, driving their cars, and at social gatherings.

Since the start of the year, over 460 Yemeni people fled their homes every day, many with nowhere safe to go.

On top of this, an impending rainy season threatens to create a third outbreak of cholera. The sustained obstruction to imports through Red Sea Ports plays havoc with the food people need to survive.

Repeated calls for the protection of civilians have gone entirely unheeded.

” We must now see meaningful steps taken by all conflict parties to mitigate the impact of war on Yemen’s people,” she said

She called on the United Nations Security Council to ensure the Presidential Statement of March this year is actively implemented in Yemen.

Suze van Meegen again called on conflict parties immediately cease hostilities and commit to a political resolution to end this war”.

Source: website

E.M