One of Australia's most decorated military soldiers, who is now serving as a senior advisor for the United Arab Emirates forces, is facing questions about his knowledge of civilian attacks in Yemen.

Key points: Mike Hindmarsh now serves as senior adviser for UAE forces

Mike Hindmarsh now serves as senior adviser for UAE forces The country has joined a coalition that declared war on rebels in Yemen

The country has joined a coalition that declared war on rebels in Yemen General Hindmarsh facing questions over knowledge of civilian attacks in country

Mike Hindmarsh commanded Australian forces in Iraq in 2008, where he also headed the elite and secretive SAS.

In 2010, the retired Major General was recruited by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to set up the country's first elite fighting force.

At the time, the UAE had never been involved in any significant military operations.

But that changed in March last year, when the country joined a Saudi-led coalition that declared war on rebels in Yemen.

The conflict has been devastating for the impoverished Yemeni people.

Last week a leaked United Nations memo said civilians had been targeted by air strikes in a "widespread and systematic" manner.

The UN said civilians were being deliberately starved as a war tactic, with 1.3 million Yemini children at risk of acute malnutrition this year.

Nearly 6,000 people, including nearly 800 children, have been killed and human rights groups have accused the coalition forces of war crimes.

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Rori Donaghy was the founder of the Emirates Centre for Human Rights and is now the news editor at Middle East Eye.

"[Mike Hindmarsh] reports directly to the Crown Prince, Mohammad bin Zayed of Abu Dhabi, he's obviously right at the top," he told 7.30.

"Mike Hindmarsh has brought in a lot of his own men. There are dozens, we don't know exactly how many, but there are dozens of Australians that are involved in command positions within the Presidential Guard."

The UAE Presidential Guard, the unit that General Hindmarsh is listed as commanding, is reported to be operating on the ground in Yemen.

7.30 does not suggest that he has been involved in any civilian attacks.

For the past 11 months, coalition forces, which have extreme air supremacy over the rebels, have been bombing Yemen regularly.

"I'd imagine it's not quite what the Australians had in mind when they moved to Abu Dhabi on a tax free salary," Mr Donaghy said.

"But unfortunately now for them I can imagine it's a difficult situation because the war in Yemen is the most difficult, dirty and ongoing of wars that will not end anytime soon."

People gather at the site of a suicide car bombing outside Yemen's presidential palace in the city of Aden. ( AFP: Salah Al-Obeidi )

Defence analyst at the US Studies Centre at University of Sydney, James Brown, knows General Hindmarsh and defends his current role.

"I served briefly with General Hindmarsh in Baghdad in 2008 when he was commanding Australia's forces in the Middle East," he said.

"He is a special forces soldier with an excellent reputation.

"This is a role that is well paid, in the part of a world that he was familiar with and ultimately a country that he could align with.

"As a professional military officer he wouldn't make judgements or be involved in missions that he was uncomfortable with, and he is in a position, I assume, where he can cut his employment at any time if he is uncomfortable with what he is being asked to do.

"General Hindmarsh in this case is mostly in an advisory role, so he doesn't bear, as far as I understand it, the ultimate responsibility for actions of the UAE military."

International law of war expert Ben Saul said that if General Hindmarsh were commanding troops, there was a danger that he could be held responsible for their actions.

UAE Presidential Guard Commander Mike Hindmarsh ( Supplied: UAE National Defense College )

"There is a doctrine known as command responsibility which means that military commanders and leaders are responsible for the actions of their subordinates," Professor Saul said.

"It means that if a commander knows or should have known that their subordinates are involved in war crimes, for example the excessive killing of civilians or indiscriminate use of military force against civilian targets or civilian areas, then the commander can be held responsible if they did not take responsible steps to prevent those war crimes."

Amnesty International investigator Donatella Rovera visited Yemen twice last year to see what was happening on the ground.

"Our investigation on the ground very clearly showed evidence of war crimes — notably the indiscriminate bombardment of civilian neighbourhoods," she said.

"The extent of the damage of the loss of civilian life and civilian infrastructure is absolutely staggering."

Military observers have confirmed to 7.30 that the UAE is carrying out air strikes in Yemen — but which units are involved remains shrouded in mystery.

"There is no transparency whatsoever," Ms Rovera said.

"We can see the results of the bombardment, we can see where the weapons come from, but we do not know the individual forces that carry out the specific attacks."

The ABC contacted General Hindmarsh to clarify his role in the UAE's actions in Yemen.

He declined the interview request, saying: "You will understand I am a serving officer in the UAE Armed Force and accordingly I abide by normal operational security parameters when it comes to disclosure of operational matters ... I am not at liberty to speak with you on such matters."