SANAA, Aug 26 (Saba) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) strongly deplores Aug. 25 airstrikes on the residential quarter in Yemeni the capital Sanaa, which killed 14 people and injured another 16. The casualties included at least five children, the youngest of them only three years old.

"I am deeply shocked and saddened by last night's airstrikes on a residential neighborhood in Sanaa. Eight of the victims were members of the same family, including five children between 3 and 10 years old. Seven died, while a four-year old girl was injured," the deputy head of ICRC's delegation in Yemen, Carlos Morazzani, said in a news release after visiting the site of the attack.

"Such loss of civilian life is outrageous and runs counter to the basic tenets of the law of armed conflict," he said.

The targeted site was Faj Attan, which is a residential neighborhood in the south of Sanaa where three buildings were hit by airstrikes around 2 am local time. The strikes reduced two of them to rubble, and severely damaged the third one, making the retrieval of bodies and of the injured extremely difficult.

"From what we saw on the ground, there was no apparent military target," Morazzani added.

Yemen Red Crescent Society volunteers responded to the incident and assisted in the transfer of survivors to three hospitals in Sanaa. The ICRC has provided a substantial donation of medical supplies to help treat the wounded.

The air strikes come after the ICRC earlier this month expressed public alarm at the increasing trend of airstrikes against civilians in Yemen.

The ICRC reiterates its call on all the parties to the conflict to respect the law of war and spare civilians.


Reem K./zak
Saba