Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the Saudi-led coalition of deliberately attacking Yemeni fishing boats, killing 47 fishermen since 2018.
The New York-based rights group said coalition warships and helicopters have been involved in attacks that killed 47 fishermen, including seven children, and the detention of more than 100 others.
“Coalition naval forces repeatedly attacked Yemeni fishing boats and Yemeni fishermen without any apparent determination that they were valid military targets,” Priyanka Motaparthy, HRW’s acting emergencies director, said in a statement on Wednesday.
HRW said coalition officials who ordered or carried out the attacks or tortured detainees are most likely responsible for war crimes.
“Gunning down fishermen waving white cloths or leaving shipwrecked crew members to drown are war crimes,” Motaparthy said.
HRW said the Saudi-led coalition has consistently failed to investigate alleged war crimes and other unlawful attacks, including the attacks on fishing boats.
Although there was no comment from the Saudi-led coalition on the accusations, the bloc repeatedly said in previous occasions that it takes measures to prevent casualties among civilians.
Yemen has been since March 2015 under brutal aggression by Saudi-led coalition, in a bid to restore control to fugitive president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi who is Riyadh’s ally.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed and injured in the strikes launched by the coalition, with the vast majority of them are civilians.
The coalition, which includes in addition to Saudi Arabia and UAE: Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Sudan and Kuwait, has been also imposing a harsh blockade against Yemenis.
Source: Al-Manar English Website
