File photo: Houthi supporters rally to mark the anniversary of launching their motto (Sarkha)
Yemen's Houthi group welcomed on Friday a call by the United Nations for an independent investigation into Saudi-led coalition air strikes that killed dozens of people a day earlier, including children travelling on a bus.
"We welcome the call of the secretary general (of the United Nations) and we are ready to cooperate," the head of the Houthis' supreme revolutionary committee, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, said in a tweet. A Yemeni health official and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Thursday than an air strike had hit the bus carrying children as it drove through a market in northern Saada province.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres on Thursday condemned the air strike and called for an "independent and prompt investigation," his spokesman said.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned a gruesome attack Thursday in northwestern Yemen that killed at least 50 people, most of them children.Seventy-seven others were injured when a bus carrying children came under attack in Saada province, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).A statement on behalf of Guterres said local health authorities confirmed the casualties, the majority of them children between 10 and 13 years old."He [Guterres] expresses his deepest condolences to the families of the victims," said the statement. The UN chief called on "all parties to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law", saying they must take constant care to spare civilians and civilian objects in military operations.He also called for an independent and prompt investigation into the incident.The only way to end the Yemen conflict, said Guterres, is "a negotiated political settlement through inclusive intra-Yemeni dialogue". He urged all parties to de-escalate and to engage constructively in the political process.Yemen has remained wracked by violence since 2014, when Shia Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including the capital, Sanaa.The conflict escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-Arab allies launched a massive air campaign in Yemen aimed at rolling back Houthi gains. In a statement, a Houthi spokesperson blamed the Saudi-led coalition for the attack.The coalition has yet to comment on the incident.Dozens killed, including children, in Yemen air strikesUS seeks to trigger chaos in Iran by reinstating sanctionsSecurity personnel, tribesmen killed in Yemen clashes
UN chief condemns attack on school bus in Yemen
The Western-backed alliance fighting the Iranian-aligned Houthis said the air strikes had targeted missile launchers used to attack the southern Saudi city of Jizan on Wednesday, killing a Yemeni civilian there.
It accused the Houthis of using children as human shields and said the strikes were carried out in accordance with international humanitarian law.
Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition has been battling the Iranian-aligned Houthi movement in a three-year-old war, lies on one of the world’s most important trade routes for oil tankers, the Bab al-Mandeb strait.