Iran-Backed Rebels Use Hospitals as Human Shields

by Con Coughlin • August 10, 2016 at 8:30 am

Investigators found that at the time of the attack, Houthi rebels were occupying the hospital, making it a legitimate target.
"While the West urges the Saudi-led coalition to use all means possible to avoid civilian casualties, we must also be aware of the tactics the Iranian-backed rebels are using as part of a deliberate policy to discredit the coalition war effort." — Senior Western official.

A factory in Sana'a, Yemen, burns after an airstrike on August 9, 2016. (Image source: Al Jazeera video screenshot)

Iranian-backed Houthi rebels are using hospitals as military command posts, thereby deliberately putting the lives of innocent civilians at risk, according to a new report into Yemen's long-running civil war.

Hostilities in the Yemeni conflict resumed at the weekend following the collapse of peace talks in Kuwait. The talks came after Houthi fighters, who are backed by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards, rejected a U.N.-sponsored peace plan and announced the establishment of a 10-member governing body to run the country.