SANAA, May 13 (Saba) – The Saudi-led coalition has been repeatedly accused by rights groups of unlawful airstrikes on civilian targets, some of which, they say, may amount to war crimes.

The panel found Saudi denials of involvement in these specific airstrikes were implausible, and individuals responsible for planning, authorizing or executing the strikes would meet the standard for the imposition of UN sanctions.

Saudi Arabia imposed a blockade on Yemen’s air, sea and land borders in November 2017 in response to Houthi firing missiles towards Riyadh airport, closing an aid lifeline to tens of thousands of starving Yemenis.

The UK supplies weapons to Saudi Arabia and has provided targeting training to its soldiers, prompting accusations by rights groups and opposition MPs of partial responsibility for civilian casualties in Yemen.

The government argues, with high court backing, that the supply of weapons to the Saudis does not breach UK arms export license laws since, it says, there is no clear risk of a serious breach of humanitarian law by the Saudi coalition. Ministers deny that UK forces are advising the Saudis on specific targets, though they admit that, after a raid, British officers can give advice on future targeting policy.

Dozens of Yemeni families living in Saudi Arabia are stranded on the Wadiah crossing between Saudi Arabia and Yemen after the Saudi authorities banned four-wheel drive vehicles and other heavy equipment from entering Yemen.

Some families have already left their four-wheel drive vehicles behind, hired other cars and buses and entered the country.

Children, elderly, women and people with illnesses are among the stranded.

Riyadh's new migrant rules have pushed tens of thousands of Yemenis out of jobs and back to a country on the brink, with disastrous results.

Saudi Arabia has been accused of forcing tens of thousands of Yemeni expatriates back home into poverty and war with the enforcement of tough new rules on migrant workers under Mohammed bin Salman's vision for a "Saudis first" economy.

The double-whammy has resulted in the exit of tens of thousands of Yemenis , and officials say they expect more of the estimated two million Yemenis still in Saudi Arabia to follow.

Yassin al-Ariqi left Sanaa for Saudi Arabia in 2009, full of hope that his new job as a shop salesman was the answer to the money worries of family and parents back in Yemen.

For six years the 39-year-old's monthly 2,500 Saudi riyal wage ($666) was enough, but then war came to Yemen in 2015. His two brothers lost their jobs back home, meaning Ariqi became the breadwinner for four families.

In July of last year, Saudi Arabia imposed residence fees on migrant workers and their dependents - 100 riyals ($27) each a month, rising to 400 riyals .

Today in Sanaa, a war zone regularly bombed by the Saudi coalition, where work is near impossible to find amid a national economic catastrophe, food shortages and outbreaks of disease.

Fadhl al-Thobhani, a professor of sociology at Taiz University, said the return of so many expatriates from Saudi Arabia was worsening the situation of millions of Yemenis.

"The expatriates are the direct victim of the new decisions in Saudi Arabia, but the indirect victims are the millions they provide for at home," he said.

Mohammed al-Dailami, a Houthi political analyst, said the Saudi policy changes were an internal issue, but said Yemenis could protest against them through other means.

"Saudis kills us in Yemen and exile Yemenis from Saudi Arabia," he said. "There are a lot of Saudi products in Yemeni markets, so we have to boycott them.

He stated that the exiled Yemenis have to tell the world about the bad treatment meted out by the Saudi authorities, who are forcing them to return their country amid war.

Thousands of Yemeni former expatriates are jobless and burning through their savings after being forced out of Saudi Arabia by costly fees, adding a new burden to the war-torn country gripped by the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The reverse influx of Yemenis began in 2017, shortly after Saudi Arabia imposed new fees on expatriates and their family members as part of a Saudization campaign to bring more Saudis into the workforce and generate revenue.

"We can hope that Saudi Arabia stops it intervention in Yemen, so we can live peacefully and resume our lives."

Written by Mona Zaid