Human rights watch has revealed it has credible evidence that the Saudi-led coalition used banned cluster munitions supplied by the United States in airstrikes against Houthi forces in Yemen.
Photographs, video, and other evidence have emerged since mid-April 2015 indicating that cluster munitions have been used during recent weeks in airstrikes in Yemen’s northern Saada governorate, the Houthi stronghold on the border with Saudi Arabia, it said.
Cluster bombs landed in a farmed area located around 600 meters from populated villages, it said.
Through analysis of satellite imagery that the weapons appeared to land on a cultivated plateau, within 600 meters of several dozen buildings in four to six village clusters.
“Saudi-led cluster munition airstrikes have been hitting areas near villages, putting local people in danger,” said Steve Goose, arms director at Human Rights Watch. “These weapons should never be used under any circumstances. Saudi Arabia and other coalition members – and the supplier, the US – are flouting the global standard that rejects cluster munitions because of their long-term threat to civilians.”
Cluster munitions pose long-term dangers to civilians and are prohibited by a 2008 treaty adopted by 116 countries, though not Saudi Arabia, Yemen, or the United States.
In a statement, the US-based organization quoted a video by a pro-Houthi channel showing objects in the sky that were later confirmed to be cluster munitions dropped in Saada.
Moreover, it said it received photographs provided by an activist that were originally taken by a resident in Saada on April 17 at the site of an airstrike in the al-Amar area of al-Safraa, 30 kilometers south of the city of Saada.
The photographs were for remnants of two CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons manufactured by the Textron Systems Corporation and supplied to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates by the US in recent years, the statement said.
Other types of cluster munitions were also used in Saada, it said.
Arab countries including five GCC states, Egypt, Jordan and Sudan have been conducting airstrikes against the Houthi militants in several Yemeni cities since March 26.
The airstrikes were launched after the militants had ousted the government of President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi.
Civilians have been killed and properties destroyed in allegedly mistaken airstrikes in some cities including the capital Sanaa, Hodeida and Aden.