The massacre of prisoners in Yemen .. Red Cross refutes the allegations of the coalition bombing of a weapons store

UN officials condemned the bombing of a Saudi-Emirati prison in Dhamar, Yemen, which killed dozens of prisoners of war, while the Red Cross refuted the coalition's allegations that it targeted a weapons store for the Houthi group.

The UN envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, condemned yesterday the coalition air strikes late Saturday that killed up to 100 pro-government prisoners and detainees and wounded others, according to an untold toll.

In a joint statement with Liz Grande, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, Griffiths said the raids are a tragedy that has made the human cost of the war in Yemen unbearable and must stop.

Griffiths called on the Saudi-UAE coalition to investigate the raids on Dhamar and activate accountability, stressing that the only way to end the killings and suffering in Yemen is to end the conflict.

For her part, Grandi expressed shock at the large number of victims, and said that the airstrikes forced relief organizations to transfer medical supplies intended to deal with the outbreak of cholera to hospitals Dhamar (130 km south of Sanaa).

The head of the Red Cross delegation in Yemen, Franz Rauchen Stein, said the mission estimated that more than 100 people had been killed in the bombing of the three-prison prison, which is located within the so-called Community College on the northern outskirts of Dhamar, a provincial center of the same name and controlled by the Houthi group. .

While the Saudi-UAE alliance talked about targeting a drones and missiles warehouse, Rauchen Stein said the target was a detention center regularly visited by Red Cross teams, noting that 40 prisoners were being treated in hospitals.

He said it was disconcerting that the shelling targeted a prison, and that striking a similar building was shocking and sad, adding that the prisoners were protected by international law.

For his part, a spokesman for the Saudi-Emirati coalition Turki al-Maliki, said the bombing hit what he called a legitimate target, and that the coalition took measures to neutralize civilians during the operation.

Maliki said the targeted building was not registered with the United Nations on the list of banned sites, accusing the Houthis of trying to hide the reality of the site by claiming it was a secret prison.

In many previous cases, the Saudi coalition denied responsibility for bombing its civilian victims before retreating and promising to conduct the necessary investigations.

Bodies and destruction
Houthi media broadcast on Monday horrific images showing torn bodies and others trapped in rubble at the site of the coalition bombing, which was badly damaged.

According to the Houthi march, the coalition launched seven raids on the prisoners' building, which had 170 prisoners, according to a Houthi official.

As of yesterday afternoon, the Houthi media had counted 70 dead, while the Red Cross estimates put the number at more than 100. The organization said it had sent a team to Dhamar with urgent medical supplies, including 200 body bags.

Abdul Qadir al-Murtada, head of the National Committee for Prisoners' Affairs under Houthis, said many of the detainees would have been released under a prisoner exchange agreement.

The leader of the Houthi group, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, said in a speech on Sunday evening that a large number of prisoners were preparing to come out as part of an exchange deal.

Houthi accused the coalition of deliberately targeting the prisoners, saying that this is evidence of the moral and human bankruptcy of what he called the coalition of aggression.