29-03-2024 08:07 AM Jerusalem Timing

HRW: Saudi Blatantly Disregarding Int’l Standards, Using Cluster Bombs in Yemen

HRW: Saudi Blatantly Disregarding Int’l Standards, Using Cluster Bombs in Yemen

Human Rights Watch slammed Saudi Arabia over using cluster bombs against civilians in Yemen, saying that Riyadh is blatantly disregarding global standards.

Human Rights Watch slammed Saudi Arabia over using cluster bombs against civilians in Yemen, saying that Riyadh is blatantly disregarding global standards.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the watchdog said that the company that manufactured the cluster munitions Saudi Arabia allegedly used is Textron Systems Corporation of Wilmington, Massachusetts.

"Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners, as well as their US supplier, are blatantly disregarding the global standard that says cluster munitions should never be used under any circumstances,” Steve Goose, arms director at Human Rights Watch (HRW) and chair of the international Cluster Munition Coalition, said in the statement.cluster bombs

“The Saudi-led coalition should investigate evidence that civilians are being harmed in these attacks and immediately stop using them," the statement added.

Yemen has been since March 26, 2015 under brutal aggression by Saudi-led coalition.

Thousands have been martyred and injured in the attack, with the vast majority of them are civilians.

Riyadh launched the attack on Yemen in a bid to restore power to fugitive president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi who is a close ally to Saudi Arabia.

Field research by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the United Nations; interviews with witnesses and victims; and photographs and video evidence confirm that the Saudi-led coalition is using cluster munitions in Yemen.

Cluster munitions are delivered from the ground by artillery and rockets, or dropped from aircraft and contain multiple smaller submunitions that spread out over a wide area. A total of 118 countries have banned cluster munitions due to the threat they pose to nearby civilians at the time of attack and afterward.