Coalition: Target bombed in Sanaa was a Houthi militia command center

Aerial photograph of the bombed points and targets

Al Arabiya, 26 August 2017 - The spokesman for the Arab Coalition forces for the support of legitimacy in Yemen, Colonel Turki al-Malki, on Saturday said that a review has been completed of an alleged targeting of a house in a residential district of the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

The air raid that was conducted on Friday at dawn was found to have targeted a “legitimate military objective”.

The investigation by the Coalition’s joint command, Col al-Maliki said, showed that the target was a Houthi militia communications command and control center that was located in the middle of a residential area to utilize civilians as human shields.

He added that all documents and procedures related to operational planning and implementation were reviewed and no faults were found. However, a technical fault resulted in an unintentional incident resulting in collateral damage to civilians.

He added that the review further revealed that the strike did not directly target the civilian house.

Colonel al-Maliki expressed, on behalf of the coalition, his deepest sorrows over the occurrence of this unintentional incident resulting in collateral damage to civilians while also stating his sincerest condolences to the relatives of the victims.

He confirmed that the coalition leadership has started the procedures of referring the incident to a team to assess the damages and complete all procedures.

Al-Maliki stressed the coalition’s full commitment to apply the provisions of international humanitarian law, especially on the protection of civilians and the application of the highest standards of targeting as well as its legal and ethical commitment to the principle of transparency in incidental cases.