Saudi-led coalition kills 'twice as many' Yemen civilians as all other forces: UN

The United Nations on March 18 decried the "carnage" caused by recent air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, saying the alliance was responsible for the vast majority of civilian deaths in the conflict, while Washington welcomed talk of an end to the Saudi-led coalition's major combat in the country.

"Looking at the figures, it would seem that the coalition is responsible for twice as many civilian casualties as all other forces put together, virtually all as a result of air strikes," U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said in a statement, expressing outrage at one of the deadliest air strikes on a market this week.

Since the Saudi-led coalition began its air campaign in Yemen a year ago, the U.N. rights office said it had tallied just under 9,000 civilian casualties in the conflict, including 3,218 killed.

It condemned "the repeated failure of the coalition forces to take effective actions to prevent the recurrence of such incidents, and to publish transparent, independent investigations into those that have already occurred." 

Zeid decried that coalition air strikes "have hit markets, hospitals, clinics, schools, factories, wedding parties, and hundreds of private residences in villages, towns and cities."

"Despite plenty of international demarches, these awful incidents continue to occur with unacceptable regularity," he said, warning that "we are possibly looking at the commission of international crimes by members of the coalition." 

Zeid voiced particular alarm at two air strikes on a market this week in northern Yemen's rebel-held Hajja province.

The United Nations on March 17 put the death toll from those strikes at 119, and Zeid's office said Friday 106 of those killed in the...