Thursday 7 January 2016

Saudi-led coalition used cluster bombs in Yemen: HRW


The group's report included a photograph of a section of casing from a CBU-58 cluster bomb, which it said showed it was manufactured in 1978 at a US ammunition plant in Tennessee.
The United States is a close ally of Saudi Arabia and supplies much of the ordnance its forces use, but it has not exported cluster bombs of the type found in Sanaa for many years.
The watchdog's report said the cluster bombs hit a residential neighborhood in Yemen's capital Sanaa and left the tell-tale pockmarks of multiple exploding bomblets on civilian buildings.
It was not immediately clear whether anyone was hurt, but such bombs are indiscriminate weapons.
This is especially true of older models such as the one found in Sanaa because they often contain dud rounds that linger in the area and explode long after the strike.
"The coalition's repeated use of cluster bombs in the middle of a crowded city suggests an intent to harm civilians, which is a war crime," said Steve Goose, arms director at HRW.

http://www.france24.com/en/20160107-saudi-led-coalition-used-cluster-bombs-yemen-hrw