The Pentagon has warned Saudi Arabia that it could withdraw its military and intelligence support for its operation against Houthi rebels in Yemen after dozens of civilians were killed in a strike on a school bus earlier this month, media reported on Tuesday, citing officials
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th August, 2018) The Pentagon has warned Saudi Arabia that it could withdraw its military and intelligence support for its operation against Houthi rebels in Yemen after dozens of civilians were killed in a strike on a school bus earlier this month, media reported on Tuesday, citing officials.
An airstrike carried out by the Saudi-led coalition in Saada, Yemen's northern province, hit a bus carrying children from a summer camp on August 9, killing 51 people, including 40 minors.
The CNN broadcaster has learned that US Defense Secretary James Mattis and Gen. Joseph Votel, head of US military operations in the middle East, were concerned that Washington was supporting a Saudi-led campaign of airstrikes that killed multiple civilians.
According to the broadcaster, US military and intelligence support to Riyadh can be reduced unless it tries to limit civilian deaths in its campaign in Yemen.
Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Rebecca Rebarich told Sputnik on August 16 that the US Department of Defense was working with Congress on the issue of US military involvement in attacks in Yemen.
Yemen has been engulfed in an armed conflict between the government headed by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and Houthi rebels since 2015.
The Saudi-led coalition of mostly Persian Gulf nations has been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis at Hadi's request since March 2015.
