On August 9, a warplane of the Saudi-led coalition launched a missile at a bus carrying children and teachers in Dahyan market in the northern Yemeni province of Saada, according to the Yemeni al-Masirah TV.
?? صور من مسرح الجريمة الوحشية التي ارتكبها طيران العدوان الأمريكي السعودي الغاشم اليوم التي استهدفت حافلة طلاب أطفال في سوق مدينة #ضحيان بمديرية #مجز بـ #صعدة ..#مجزرة_طلاب_ضحيان #اليمن #Yemen #المركز_الإعلامي_لأنصارالله pic.twitter.com/W6Xw8PYlM2
— المركز الإعلامي لأنصار الله (@AnsarAllahMC) August 9, 2018
Yemeni sources told the Lebanese al-Mayadeen TV that at least 50 civilians, the majority of whom are children, were killed and 77 others were injured as a result of the coalition’s airstrike.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Yemen confirmed that dozens of civilians were killed and injured and said on Twitter: “Under international humanitarian law, civilians must be protected during conflict.”
Commenting on the incident, a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, Colonel Turki Al-Malaki, said that the coalition targeted “militants” responsible for launching a rocket at the southern Saudi province of Jizan a day earlier and described the airstrike as “legitimate military action.”
“The Coalition will take all necessary measures against the terrorist, criminal acts of the terrorist Iranian-Houthi militia, such as recruiting child soldiers, throwing them in battlefields and using them as tools and covers to their terrorist acts,” Col. al-Malaki said, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
Last week, more than 55 civilians were killed in the western Yemeni city of al-Hudaydah by Saudi-led coalition warplanes. Back then, the coalition accused the Houthis of being behind the massacre.
The Yemeni Missiles Force, which is a key ally of the Houthis, may carry out a missile strike on Saudi Arabia in the upcoming hours in response to this new massacre.
