The Arab Coalition to support legitimacy in Yemen confirmed it had held a “constructive” meeting with the United Nations Resident Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs in Yemen, William David Grisley.
During the meeting, the Coalition exchanged information that pertains to allegations of targeting a prison in Yemen’s Saada last month.
A specialized team at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Yemen will visit the Coalition soon to exchange additional information, the Coalition clarified.
On January 21, several media outlets reported that the Coalition conducted an airstrike that killed detainees in a prison run by the Iran-backed Houthi militia.
However, an investigation launched by the Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT) on the alleged targeted prison strike by the Arab Coalition has revealed the location to be a “Special Security Camp in Saada, which is a legitimate military target.”
Brigadier General Turki al-Malki, an official spokesperson of the Arab Coalition, had slammed the allegations and insisted “they are part of a blatant attempt to mislead the public opinion regarding the true nature of the location in an attempt to garner sympathy from UN organizations and INGOs,” in a statement first reported by the Saudi Press Agency.
“The Coalition will inform the OCHA and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on the facts and details,” said al-Malki.
There are four reported locations identified as prisons in the Joint Forces Command’s No Strike List (NSL) in Saada city. These are allegedly being used by the “terrorist Houthi militia,” to launch of cross-border attacks to target civilians and civilian installations, SPA reported.
“The closest prison is located 1.8 kilometers away from the alleged location,” clarified al-Malki.
In other news, Grisley visited the headquarters of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center in Riyadh where he was hosted by General Supervisor Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah.
The two officials discussed the humanitarian situation in Yemen and relief efforts to alleviate the suffering of the Yemeni people.
They also discussed the environmental disaster that would be caused if the decaying oil storage vessel Safer, which is moored off the port of Hodeidah, was to leak.
