Sanaa’s Foreign Ministry steps up diplomatic efforts over Saudi attacks on civilians in Yemen
SANAA, Nov. 02 (YPA) – Yemen’s Sanaa-based Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates has stepped up its diplomatic engagement with the international community over continued Saudi attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure in several Yemeni governorates.
The ministry called on the international community to fulfill its legal and humanitarian responsibilities in response to these violations.
This was stated in a memorandum submitted by the ministry to the United Nations and several international and regional organizations, including the UN Secretary-General, the President of the General Assembly, the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, member states of the Security Council and Human Rights Council, and the European and African unions.
The memoranda detailed the toll of the Saudi military escalation that began on July 13, 2026, alongside the targeting of Sanaa International Airport. The ministry clarified the number of airstrikes and missiles used had exceeded 3,830 attacks, while the civilian death and injury toll had reached 768 as of October 30.
According to figures cited by the ministry, 232 civilians had been killed, including 68 children and 35 women, while 536 others had been injured, including 137 children and 72 women. The memoranda said the figures reflected the scale of human losses among civilians.
The Foreign Ministry highlighted several recent attacks, foremost among them the targeting of the central Al-Hazm Market in Jawf province, which killed 14 people, including three children and two women, and injured 15 others.
It also cited the aggressive attack on the home of the Al-Bajash family in Al-Shamayatayn District, Taiz province, which killed six people, including four children and a woman, and injured two others, one of them a child.
The incidents detailed in the memoranda also included attacks on the Faculty of Medicine and an Oil Company station in Bajil district of Hodeida province. The ministry described these as attacks on civilian facilities and objects.
The ministry said targeting civilians and civilian objects constituted a violation of international humanitarian law, particularly the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 and Additional Protocol I of 1977 concerning the protection of victims of international armed conflicts.
In a further escalation of its position, the ministry condemned the international community’s silence over the attacks, saying the continued absence of effective international action reflected double standards in addressing violations and war crimes and encouraged those responsible to continue their escalation.
The ministry affirmed Yemen’s commitment to international law and international humanitarian law, and said it would continue to demand the rights of the Yemeni people, foremost among them an end to the attacks and the lifting of the blockade imposed on the country.
It concluded by stressing the need for international action to halt the violations, hold those responsible accountable and bring an end to the ongoing suffering of Yemeni civilians.
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