Local Editor
The United Nations urges the warring parties in Yemen to lower tensions, citing at least 19 civilian deaths and the intensification of the Islamic State terror group's (IS, outlawed in Russia) activities in the recent weeks, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said in a press statement on Tuesday.
"Since 27 July, the UN Human Rights Office has verified 19 civilian deaths in Taiz, Sa'ada and Aden and 42 civilians injured... Armed groups affiliated with Al Qaedaand ISIS [IS] also appear to have intensified their activities in the country," Shamdasani said. "We urge all parties to the conflict to seek to de-escalate the situation."
Shamdasani said that the majority of civilian deaths resulted from an airstrike on Al-Thabet market in the southern province of Saada on July 29, in which 14 civilians were killed, including four children.
The spokesperson added that Yemen's security forces have launched retaliatory operations in response to the terrorist attacks on a police station and military camps on August 1 and 2, perpetrated by the fighters from IS and Al-Qaeda respectively.
These retaliatory attacks often target civilians in the northern parts of Yemen, she said.
"We have received information from multiple sources about arbitrary arrests and detention, forced displacement, physical assaults and harassment as well as looting and vandalism by the security forces against hundreds of northerners," Shamdasani added.
Yemen, a small nation in the south of the Arabian peninsula, has been engulfed in an armed conflict between forces led by former Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi and the popular Houthi Ansarullah movement for several years now. A Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis at Hadi's request since March 2015. The conflict has resulted in a massive humanitarian crisis in the war-torn country.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
