- All documents relating to this incident have been handed over to Joint Incidents Assessment Team
JEDDAH: The coalition supporting Yemen's legitimate government said Wednesday that it has passed on for assessment its review suggesting possible civilian casualties in an Aug. 23 strike targeting terrorists in Hodeidah.
“There might have been collateral damage and civilian casualties” in the Aug. 23 incident, which was targeting members of the terrorist Iranian-Houthi militia in Durayhimi directorate, coalition spokesman Col. Turki Al-Malki said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
“All documents relating to this incident have been handed over to Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT) pending assessment and announcement of results,” Al-Malki said.
The official spokesman reaffirmed the commitment of the coalition in applying the highest standards of targeting, the SPA report said.
Earlier, the JIAT called for a review of the rules of engagement by the coalition as it concluded that dozens of civilians, some of them children, were killed in an anti-Houthi strike on a bus in Saada, Yemen on Aug. 9
Mansour Ahmed Al-Mansour, JIAT legal adviser, said the strike had been based on intelligence indicating that the bus was carrying Houthi leaders, a legitimate military target, but the mission went awry due to delays in execution of the strike and failure to receive a no-strike order.
A report by the International Committee for the Red Cross on the Aug. 9 incident said at least 29 children were killed and dozens more injured when the bus was hit in Dahyan area in Saada province.
The coalition apologized for the failed strike, promised to review its rules of engagement, hold those at fault accountable and compensate the victims.
The US has hailed the announcement as a proper step in correcting mistakes that have fueled criticisms against the otherwise legitimate mission of the Saudi-led coalition.