Yemen 70 people were killed in a raid on a prison in Saada, and the coalition denies any connection with it

At least seventy people were killed in a raid on a prison in Saada, northern Yemen, which the Houthis accused the Saudi-led military coalition of carrying out, but the coalition denied this and said that reports of targeting a detention center in Saada were "unfounded."

At least seventy people were killed in a raid on a prison in Saada, northern Yemen, and the Houthis accused the Saudi-led military coalition of carrying it out, but the coalition denied this.

In a statement on Friday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned "the Saudi-led coalition's air strikes that targeted a prison in Saada" and "resulted in at least sixty dead and more than a hundred wounded" among the prisoners.

He pointed out that "other air strikes were recorded in other places in Yemen, as well as deaths and injuries among civilians, including children," calling for "rapid, effective and transparent investigations" into these events with the aim of holding the perpetrators accountable.

And coalition raids on Hodeidah in western Yemen killed three children, according to Save the Children. The Houthis said they targeted a communications building. The Internet has been cut off from most parts of Yemen since Friday morning.

The Houthis accused the coalition aircraft of committing a "crime" in Saada, which is their stronghold. They distributed aerial video images of the targeted place, which they said was the headquarters of the "reserve prison" in the city, in which it appeared completely destroyed.

Other photos also showed corpses and bloodstains among the rubble, while people were helping to remove the rubble. You can see a bulldozer and machinery cleaning the place, ambulances, and other bodies lying on the road.

Doctors Without Borders reported that the death toll from the raid on the prison reached 70 dead and 138 wounded.

In a series of tweets on Twitter, the spokesperson for Doctors Without Borders said that the death toll of the 70 dead and 138 wounded was from Al-Gomhoria Hospital only, adding that the hospital staff were "working beyond their capacity and could not receive more wounded."

"It is impossible to know the number of dead," he wrote. "It seems like a terrible process."

Seven non-governmental organizations working in the humanitarian field in Yemen said in a statement that among the victims were many migrants, noting that the prison was intended to transport migrants to it.

The Saudi-led coalition denied reports that it had targeted a detention center in Saada Governorate, stressing that these reports were "unfounded."

In a statement carried by the official Saudi News Agency (SPA), Turki Al-Maliki, a spokesman for the coalition forces, said that "the leadership of the joint forces of the coalition followed up what was reported by some media agencies after the Iranian-backed terrorist Houthi militia announced that the coalition targeted a detention center in Saada province at dawn on Friday (January 21). (January) and the claim that there were victims among the detainees inside it," stressing that "these allegations made by the Houthi militia are untrue."

Al-Maliki added: "The leadership of the joint forces of the coalition takes such reports seriously, and a comprehensive review of the post-work procedures was carried out according to the internal mechanism of the joint forces command of the coalition, and it was found that these allegations are not true."

And he added: "What the Iranian-backed terrorist Houthi militia has marketed reflects its usual deceptive approach, and that the alleged target was not included in the non-targeting lists according to the mechanism approved with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Yemen and was not reported by the International Committee of the Red Cross, and it does not apply It is subject to the standards set forth in the provisions of international humanitarian law and its customary rules relating to detention centers contained in Article (23) of the Third Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War, as well as the preventive measures and marks of discrimination stipulated in it.

Al-Maliki confirmed that "the leadership of the joint forces of the coalition will inform the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Yemen and the International Committee of the Red Cross on the facts and details, as well as the disinformation practiced by the terrorist Houthi militia."

The coalition, which supports forces loyal to the Yemeni government in its conflict with the Houthis, has intensified its air raids on Houthi-controlled areas since Monday, after the Houthi attack on Abu Dhabi in the Emirates, a member of the coalition.

International condemnations

On Friday, after a meeting held at the request of the UAE, the UN Security Council unanimously condemned the "terrorist attacks" committed by the Houthis in the UAE, while Norway, which holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council in January, considered the air strike that targeted the prison in Saada "unacceptable." .

On Friday, the United States called for a "cessation of escalation" in Yemen, saying that "more than 100 people were killed in recent days," including at least 70 killed in an air raid on a prison in Saada, according to a statement issued by the US State Department.

The statement quoted Secretary of State Anthony Blinken as saying that "the United States is deeply concerned (...) by the escalation in Yemen," calling on "all parties to the conflict to de-escalate, comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law, and fully participate in a comprehensive peace process led by the United Nations."

The US Secretary of State said that "the air strike comes just days after the Houthis deliberately attacked civilians in Abu Dhabi."

For her part, the UAE's representative to the United Nations, Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, said that the military coalition in Yemen is adopting an "equal response in all its military operations", in response to a question about the strike that targeted the prison.

The Houthis targeted Abu Dhabi with missiles and drones on Monday, causing three deaths, wounding three fuel tanks and causing a fire near the airport. The UAE and the coalition pledged to respond.

This was the first attack of its kind carried out by the Iranian-backed Houthis on the UAE.

On the third of January, the Houthis confiscated a ship in the Red Sea flying the UAE flag and transporting, according to the coalition, equipment to a hospital. The Houthis said it was transporting weapons.

Yemen has been witnessing for nearly 7 years a continuous war between the pro-government forces backed by an Arab military alliance led by the neighboring Saudi Arabia, and the Iranian-backed Houthis, who have controlled several governorates, including the capital, Sanaa, since September 2014.

US congressman calls for halt to house demolitions in Sheikh Jarrah 

 

Washington - US Congressman Mary Newman called for a halt to the demolition of Palestinian homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied Jerusalem.

Newman expressed, in a tweet on her personal account on "Twitter", today, Saturday, her position against the demolition of homes in Sheikh Jarrah.

She said: 15 Palestinians became homeless after the Israeli police expelled them in the middle of the night and demolished their homes in Sheikh Jarrah. This is one of more than 1,000 evictions or demolitions in the area since 2016, and this must end.(WAFA)