‘Saudi Arabia using US-supplied cluster bombs’

The Saudi-led coalition bombing rebels in Yemen has been using US-supplied cluster munitions in its air campaign, Human Rights Watch says, warning of the long-term dangers to civilians.

The widely banned bombs contain dozens of submunitions, which sometimes do not explode, becoming de facto landmines that can kill or maim long after they were dropped.

HRW says it had gathered photographs, video and other evidence indicating that cluster munitions had been used in coalition airstrikes against the Houthi rebel stronghold of Saada province in Yemen’s northern mountains in recent weeks.

It says that analysis of satellite imagery suggests that the weapons had landed on a cultivated plateau, within 600 meters (yards) of populated areas.

Cluster munitions are prohibited by a 2008 treaty adopted by 116 countries, but not by Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners or the United States.

“Saudi-led cluster munition airstrikes have been hitting areas near villages, putting local people in danger,” says HRW arms director Steve Goose.

Early in the air campaign that it launched on March 26, Saudi Arabia denied it was using cluster munitions.

— AFP