James Mattis defends American involvement in Yemen : US will do 'anything we can' to limit civilian deaths

US Defence Secretary James Mattis has defended his country's involvement in Yemen's war, saying Washington will do "anything we can" to limit civilian casualties.


More than 10,000 people have been killed in Yemen since a Saudi-led military coalition began bombing the country in March 2015, aiming to curb the advances of Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

The US is showing the Saudi-led coalition "how to use intelligence so that you very precisely try to miss killing civilians" while targeting Houthi forces, Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon on Friday.

"We're going to try to make that army, that military of the Saudis, more capable of carrying out what they find to be their military necessity, without killing innocents," he said.

• 'Absurd war'

A statement released on Thursday by the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick, noted that Saudi-led air strikes have killed more than 100 civilians in Yemen in the last 10 days.

"This absurd war ... has only resulted in the destruction of the country and the incommensurate suffering of its people, who are being punished as part of a futile military campaign by both sides," he noted.

On December 26 alone, an air strike on a market in Yemen's central Taiz governorate killed 54 people, including eight children, while a separate attack in the western governorate of al-Hudaydah resulted in 14 deaths, according to UN estimates.

"I remind all parties to the conflict, including the Saudi-led coalition, of their obligations under International Humanitarian Law to spare civilians and civilian infrastructure and to always distinguish between civilian and military objects," McGoldrick noted.
 [aljazeera.com]
 30/12/17
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