International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President Mirjana Spoljaric on Tuesday called for urgent efforts to “de-escalate” tensions in the Middle East, warning that an intensification of hostilities would be “catastrophic” for tens of millions of people.
اضافة اعلان
Yemen’s civil war resumed in July, with a Saudi-led military coalition supporting the government against the Houthis, following months of a broader regional war that disrupted energy markets.
“Civilians are paying an unacceptable price as a result of military operations in the Middle East,” Spoljaric said in a statement.
The Houthis quickly began targeting Saudi oil facilities, oil tankers and transport hubs, including a series of deadly strikes on Riyadh airport, shaking the world’s largest oil-exporting country.
“The deaths, injuries and destruction in Saudi Arabia in recent days are another example of the devastating price civilians pay as a result of hostilities,” Spoljaric said.
“In Yemen, the number of deaths and displaced people, as well as the scale of damage to civilian infrastructure, including in Aden and Sanaa, are increasing at an alarming rate. Across the Middle East, civilian infrastructure has been repeatedly struck and lives have been lost,” she added.
Spoljaric stressed the need to protect civilians and civilian facilities from attacks and for parties to conflicts to distinguish at all times between civilian and military targets.
She warned that attacks on ports, airports and critical infrastructure could have severe consequences for populations that depend on them.
“Any further escalation of hostilities would be catastrophic for tens of millions of people. Urgent efforts must therefore be made to de-escalate tensions and protect civilians from further harm,” Spoljaric said.
Yemen’s years-long civil war has caused a major humanitarian crisis in the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula.
The Geneva-based ICRC serves as guardian of international humanitarian law, a body of rules designed to limit the effects of armed conflicts.
The law protects people who are not participating, or are no longer participating, in hostilities and places restrictions on the means and methods of warfare.
Source: AFP
