… from Press TV, Tehran
[ Editor’s Note: This is the first time I have heard the words “war crime” come out of Mr. UN’s mouth toward a major target, and major funder of the UN. What has caused the change? Was not Saudi backing of a terror war and the countless crimes they committed worse?
I am not holding my breath, but I do have my fingers crossed. The chance of his going out on a limb by himself are slim. Top UN people are not the jump off the cliff to be a good showing kind of people. They don’t move against a strong target without stronger allies promising support.
Who could this be, if there is some muscle behind these “war crimes” words. To trot them out and do nothing would make him look foolish or abandoned. But, notice how talk of the first Syrian negotiation meeting for this month has disappeared from the news. Is someone buying time to create a deal wrecking plan?
Erdogan had been to Riyadh to pow wow and no leaks came from that. The same goes for General Duncan’s meeting with Iraqi PM Abdi. These are signs of a strategy shift in play, where someone is getting their ducks in a row (if they can) before the kick off. We may have an interesting January ahead of us… Jim W. Dean ]
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– First published … January 08, 2016 –
Is Moon stepping up to the plate with the statement, or just more words?UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has expressed concern over Saudi Arabia’s intensifying airstrikes against civilians in Yemen, warning that Riyadh’s use of cluster bombs in the capital, Sana’a, may amount to a “war crime.”
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Friday that Ban is “deeply concerned” about Saudi Arabia’s intensification of airstrikes in residential areas and on civilian buildings in the Yemeni capital,including the Chamber of Commerce, a wedding hall and a center for the blind, “despite repeated calls for a renewed cessation of hostilities.”
He added that the UN chief has also received “troubling reports” that cluster munitions have been used against civilians in many locations in Sana’a.
“The use of cluster munitions in populated areas may amount to a war crime due to their indiscriminate nature,” the UN spokesperson pointed out.
At least one Yemeni civilian was killed and a number of others were injured after Saudi jets pounded various districts of Sana’a, using cluster bombs early on Thursday. Saudi warplanes also bombarded residential buildings in the al-Marzaq district of Hajjah Province, killing four people and injuring two others.
Leading rights group Human Rights Watch has confirmed the cluster bomb attack in the Yemeni capital’s residential areas, saying it amounted to “a war crime.”
“The inherently indiscriminate nature of cluster munitions makes such attacks serious violations of the laws of war,” Steve Goose, arms director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement on Thursday.
Kids are already being used in this fightDujarric further said the UN chief was urging all parties to the Yemen crisis to cooperate with his special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed in efforts aimed at resuming peace talks as soon as possible.
Saudi Arabia began the military campaign against Yemen in late March 2015. The strikes are supposedly meant to undermine the Ansarullah movement and restore power to fugitive former Yemeni president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi.
The Human Rights Watch said in late May 2015 that Saudi warplanes had targeted civilians and residential areas with cluster bombs in the northern province of Sa’ada.
More than 7,500 people have been killed and over 14,000 others injured since the strikes began. The Saudi war has also taken a heavy toll on the impoverished country’s facilities and infrastructure.
Yemenis have responded with attacks against Saudi forces deployed in the country as well as targets inside Saudi Arabia.
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Jim W. Dean is VT Editor Emeritus. He was an active editor on VT from 2010-2022. He was involved in operations, development, and writing, plus an active schedule of TV and radio interviews. He now writes and posts periodically for VT.
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