Arab coalition forces that support legitimacy in Yemen emphasised that the United Nations report’s inclusion of the coalition on its human rights violation blacklist is negative and will weaken the efforts of the UN envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh.

Brigadier General Ahmed bin Hasan Asiri, a consultant at the Minister of Defence’s Office and spokesman for the coalition forces, explained that the United Nations report which was issued yesterday does not help the consultations that are currently taking place in Kuwait. He added that it contains general statistics that are contrary to the legitimate government’s information.

Asiri told Asharq Al-Awsat that “the coalition forces have evidence that the United Nations recognises the legitimacy of the Yemeni government at the same time that it is communicating with the rebels in Sanaa and considers them an official government. This is a big contradiction and therefore the report issued by it is biased. It was written to talk about the violation of children’s rights but it ignores the fact that the rebels employ children to fight on battlefields, plant mines and transport ammunition and food supplies.”

Asiri confirmed that Saudi Arabia has apprehended 52 Yemeni children aged between 8 and 15 years old who were involved in fighting on the battlefield, and he refuted the allegations cited by the report.

On his part, the Permanent Representative of the kingdom to the United Nations Ambassador Abdullah Al-Mouallimi told Asharq Al-Awsat that the UN blacklist report is a preliminary report and will go through several stages including submission to the Security Council before the final version is published.