Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT) in Yemen refuted Tuesday allegations made by international organizations against the Saudi-led coalition to support legitimacy in Yemen, affirming its readiness to provide facts to relevant parties.
In a press conference held in Riyadh on Tuesday, official spokesman of JIAT and legal consultant Mansour al-Mansour explained the outcome of the investigations into six incidents reviewed by his team.
A report, issued on September 22, 2017, tackled the incident which took place in Bayt Al-Udhri in Sanaa governorate and accused the coalition forces of carrying out three airstrikes in Arhab directorate. Mansour said this report was based on inaccurate information.
One of the airstrikes hit a building that contains shops and a hotel, accommodating farmers, the Red Cross said in their report, adding that 50 people died and 54 were injured.
It said the fighters were only two while the rest were civilians, who sell Qat.
However, JIAT investigations revealed that armed Houthi militiamen were inside the building, as well as at a checkpoint facing it.
The armed Houthis took advantage of the building, which made it a legitimate target, according to Mansour, who stressed that the coalition forces had acted in accordance with international humanitarian law.
In another report by the UN High Commission for Human Rights, coalition forces were accused of carrying out an airstrike on September 20, 2016 and targeting a civilian car in al-Minsaf Area at al-Jouf governorate.
According to the report, the strike killed 15 civilians, including 12 children and three women, and injured three other children.
Nevertheless, JIAT’s investigations showed that the Yemeni forces of the legitimate government received intelligence information that an SUV was carrying leading Houthi commanders.
The coalition air forces monitored the vehicle in coordination with ground sources, and after targeting it, secondary explosions took place meaning that the vehicle was carrying weapons and ammunition along with the Houthi commanders.
In regards to the report by the National Commission investigating human rights violations in Yemen from Sept. 2016 until June 2017, the coalition air force carried out an airstrike on a building in Shibam Kawkaban in al-Mahwit governorate, where prominent armed Houthi commanders and forces of the former Yemeni president were present.
Mansour stressed that these militiamen used the location as a barracks to shelter their armed men.
Another report claimed an airstrike had taken place near the Court building in Maqbanah directorate in Taiz on May 18, 2017, killing 16 civilians and injuring others.
Commenting on the report, Mansour said JIAT investigations revealed that no operations had taken place in the directorate on that date.
The National Commission's report also accused the coalition forces of targeting a house in Mansourah district, which led to the death of four people and the injury of one child.
Mansour said that according to JIAT investigations, it was clear that the coalition forces did not carry out any airstrike on the day the building was hit.
