U.N. report on Yemen children is inaccurate- Analysts
(MENAFN- Emirates News Agency (WAM))
RIYADH, 6th June 2016 (WAM) --- Political analysts on Monday lambasted a recent United Nations report which claimed that the Saudi-led Arab Coalition committed violations in Yemen. They said that targeting children was an integral part of the strategy of rebel Houthi militia and forces loyal to now-ousted Ali Abdullah Saleh.
On Thursday, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon added the Saudi-led coalition to an annual blacklist of states and armed groups that violate children's rights during conflicts, claiming its air strikes were behind child deaths in the war in Yemen.
In Yemen, it also blacklisted the rebel Iranian-backed Houthi group and forces loyal to Saleh, which have already featured on the annual list for the past five years.
Director of the Jeddah-based Middle East Centre for Strategic and Legal Studies Dr. Anwar Eshki told WAM that the UN report fails to present evidence and facts.
"It is inaccurate. Such reports must be based on solid and true facts," he said, and wondered how the UN could prepare a report about Yemen when it does not have a mission there.
Eshki called upon the UN to publish the facts about Syrian and Iraqi children and civilians killed by the Iranian-backed sectarian militias.
Chairman of the Gulf Research Centre Dr. Abdul Aziz Saqr agrees.
The Arab Coalition carries out complicated intelligence-gathering measures on the ground before conducting any airstrike in Yemen, he noted.
Targeting children and civilians and indiscriminate shelling are integral parts of the plans of the Iranian-backed Houthi militia.
"Specifying targets is compliant with the highest standards and controls for avoiding civilian casualties," Saqr said, and added that every day the Arab Coalition cancels planned airstrikes because the targets are close to residential areas.
WAM/MMYS