The United Nations’ human rights office said on Friday that deaths among civilians due to Yemen’s conflict have been “steadily mounting” with more than 200 people killed and more than 500 wounded in four months, including 50 in one week.
The spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Ravina Shamdasani said in a press release that violence has been escalating across Yemen.
She noted that July and August witnessed the worst incidents with eight children killed in a July 5 rocket attack in the eastern city of Marib. On Aug. 7, 16 civilians were killed in airstrikes east of the capital Sanaa.
Since March 2014, a Saudi-led military coalition has waged a campaign against Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, and allied forces who occupy the capital. Despite its extensive air campaign, the coalition has so far failed to dislodge the Houthis from the northern region while peace talks mediated by the United Nations have yielded no progress.
“Each side is responsible for the civilian casualties,” Shamdasani said. In July, she noted that “the number of casualties attributable to airstrikes fell quite dramatically and it was the shelling, the rocket fire, the indiscriminate killings by the Houthis which rose considerably.” She added that the airstrikes resumed last week and “airstrikes by their very nature tend to cause more damage and more casualties.”
The internationally-recognized government led by President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has declared a new offensive in the mountains of Nihm east of Sanaa, which aims at reclaiming the capital.
