Saturday, April 25, 2015
Associated Press
SANAA, Yemen
With combatants fighting in neighborhoods and Saudi-led coalition warplanes pounding Iran-backed rebels from the sky, Yemen’s war is wreaking a particularly bloody toll among civilians: more than 550 have been killed in the past month, including 115 children, the U.N. said Friday.
Amnesty International said in a new report that some of the airstrikes it examined in the capital of Sanaa and four other cities raise “concerns about compliance with international law,” saying they appeared to have failed to take precautions to avoid civilian casualties.
The air campaign that began March 26 “has transformed many parts of Yemen into a dangerous place for civilians,” the report said. “Millions of people have been forced to live in a state of utter terror, afraid of being killed in their homes.” It said about 150,000 people have fled their homes the past month.
So far, relatively muted criticism from world leaders has been unable to force an end to the violence in the Arab world’s poorest country. More civilian areas were hit Friday by warplanes, including a stadium in the southern town of Zinjibar and a courthouse in the town of Lahj, witnesses said. Casualties were not immediately known.