Dozens killed in Saudi airstrike in Yemen

 

An aerial view of the damage. BBC/Reuters. 

Dozens have been killed in a Saudi airstrike against a Houthi rebel controlled prison in Yemen. BBC. The exact number of wounded and killed is unknown but the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) aid group said that at least 70 people died and 200 were taken to the hospital with both numbers expected to rise. Saudi Arabia has increased their bombing campaign against the Houthi rebels since a major drone attack hit their allies in the UAE. The prison was located in the Houthi stronghold of Saada. 

My Comment:

Bad mistake by the Saudis. They already get bad press for their war against the Houthi rebels. I don't think it is always deserved, as at the very least the Houthis are as bad or worse than the Saudis, but this airstrike is not going to help their case at all. 

I am not sure why the Saudis would target this prison and none of the articles I read seem to know either. I don't see any reason to hit a prison since it would provide no strategic value whatsoever. My only thought is that the Houthis were using the prison as a base for something else and tried to use the prisoners as human shields. Even if that was the case I am not sure that would justify this airstrike. 

Without any justification offered I can't help but consider this a war crime. Again, there seems to be no strategic value in blowing up a prison. All that accomplished is to kill a bunch of people that had nothing to do with the war. That's the very definition of a war crime. 

There is a possibility that this was just a tragic mistake. It could have been that their weapons simply missed or that there was an intelligence failure that made the Saudis think this prison was something else. Mistakes are always possible in warfare but given the use of precision weapons in modern airstrikes it seems unlikely. 

The Saudis did have to respond to the attack on the UAE. That strike did damage to the countries oil production and anything that damages oil production in the Gulf is a bad thing for the Saudis. But I still don't understand why they would target this prison. Unless there is something major we are all missing it was not a military target. 

As for the war in Yemen, I see no end in sight. Most countries don't care about it at all and neither the Sunni Gulf States or the Iranian backed Shiite militias are in a position to win the war militarily. I think the only solution is some kind of negotiated settlement but I can't see that happening anytime soon. 

Even so, the Saudis need to conduct themselves better than this. I know civilian casualties are inevitable during a war and mistakes happen, but this attack seems beyond the pale. The Saudis need to stop doing things like this and stop doing it yesterday or they will lose any and all sympathy they may have had.