A Saudi-led coalition strike on a Houthi rebel-held detention centre has killed more than 100 people in Yemen, the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Sunday. “urgent medical help” to the victims.

The Ryad-led coalition has been working in Yemen since 2015 to support pro-government forces against rebels who control large areas of western and northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa since 2014.

On Sunday, the coalition announced that it had conducted air raids against a “military position where drones and missiles are stored” in the western city of Dhamar, according to a statement relayed by the Saudi television channel. al-Ekhbariya.

Franz Rauchenstein, head of the ICRC in Yemen, told AFP from Dhamar that “more than 100 people were killed” in this strike.

ICRC medical teams quickly travelled with body bags to the target location, which the organization had visited in the past, “a university building that was emptied and used as a detention centre for a while,” according to M Rauchenstein.

“Hitting such a building is shocking and sad, prisoners are protected by international law,” said Rauchenstein. At least 40 injured were hospitalized in several hospitals in Dhamar, according to him.

“At this time, IARC teams are working tirelessly to find survivors under the rubble,” he said, adding that the chances of survival were “very low”.

Videos obtained by AFP show a badly damaged building and several bodies lying under the debris, while bulldozers clear the debris.

War crimes

Since 2014, the conflict in Yemen has left tens of thousands dead, including many civilians, according to NGOs, and plunged this country — the poorest of the Arabian Peninsula — into the worst humanitarian crisis in the world according to the UN.

Houthis like Saudi Arabia and its allies are accused of violations that could be considered war crimes. In 2017, the United Nations placed the coalition on its blacklist of countries and entities that committed abuses against children in conflicts.

Claiming to have taken all “the necessary precautionary measures to protect civilians”, the coalition has ensured that it targeted “a legitimate military target” on Sunday.

According to the coalition, post-strike explosions show that the targeted building was used to store weapons and that the Houthis were lying, “saying it is a secret prison.”

The Houthis assured them on their Al-Masirah television channel that “dozens of people were killed or wounded” in seven strikes on a building serving as a prison.

“The enemy deliberately targeted prisoners in Dhamar, many of whom were preparing to be released as part of a prisoner exchange,” rebel leader Abdelmalek al-Houthi said in a televised address.

These strikes come as a new front opened in the war. The coalition has been shaken for several weeks by internal fighting in the south between Yemeni southern separatists, supported by the United Arab Emirates, and pro-government forces, supported by Ryad.

In early August, the separatists took control of the city of Aden, which became the “provisional capital” of the government after the Houthis captured Sanaa. The government accused the United Arab Emirates of supporting a “coup d’etat”.

Analysts say the clashes in the south are a test for Ryad, who is hoping for a ceasefire, to focus on the war against the rebels, backed by his Iranian rival.

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