Houthis use children as human shields, Col. Al Malki

CAIRO – 21 May 2018: The Saudi Arabian – led Coalition forces in Yemen spokesperson, Col. Turki Al Malki, said in a press statement Saturday that Yemeni National forces managed to save Jamilah, a four-year old Yemeni child used by Houthi rebels as a human shield.

Al Malki said that the abused child was inside a n armed vehicle that attacked elements of the Yemeni National Army at the outskirts of Sa’dah city. The vehicle attempted to attack soldiers from the YNA before being stopped and the assailants onboard apprehended.

The child was was delivered to a representative of the legitimate government of Yemen in presence of representatives of ICRC, SRCA, HRC and director of the Child Protection Unit in the Joint Forces Command of the Coalition.

Col. Al Malki explained that the Yemen National Army captured the child’s father amid the military campaign launched to liberate Sa’dah city, according to Al Malki.

“The National Yemeni forces took all precautionary measures to ensure the safety of the child, as the vehicle was totaled and during the apprehension of the driver, the 4- year old girl was found dressed in boy’s clothes,” added Al Malki.

It was discovered that the driver is her father, and that her presence in the battlefield was for the reason of being used as a human shield,” said Al Malki.

Col. Al Malki asserted that what the Iranian-Houthi militia is doing represents flagrant defiance of the international humanitarian law through recruiting children, throwing them into the battlefield and using them as human shields to ensure the safety of their movements and that they will not be targeted.