Airstrikes in Yemen have killed scores of civilians over the past three months, underscoring a troubling pattern that shows no signs of slowdown, the International Committee of the Red Cross announced Tuesday.
Warring parties active in Yemen's northwestern Saada province have launched 21 airstrikes on a near daily basis over the past two weeks in territories that have little-to-no military value, according to Iolanda Jaquemet, an ICRC spokeswoman who cited accounts from colleagues stationed in the region.
The most recent attack occurred Friday when Saudi-led forces targeted a civilian home in a strike that killed nine people, including three women and six children from the same family, according to a local health official. A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition denied the charges on Tuesday, one day after the United Nations accused warring parties of exhibiting a complete "disregard" for human life.
"According to the photos I've seen and what our colleagues have reported, this house was quite isolated," Jaquemet told the Washington Free Beacon. "It's not as if [troops] made a mistake in the middle of something—the house was out there in a village, separated from any potential military target."
Since May, the ICRC has detected three major airstrikes by warring factions that have killed nearly 50 civilians. Jaquemet stressed the list is not exhaustive, suggesting the death toll by airstrikes may be higher.
One of the attacks, recorded by the group in late June, killed more than 20 civilians after unidentified forces conducted an air raid on a market in the Saada district.
As a general policy, the ICRC does not assign blame for these types of assaults. The aid group issued a statement on Tuesday condemning all warring groups for perpetuating a "trend whereby public places, such as markets, as well as private houses, have been targeted by the belligerents."
Yemen has been plagued for more than two years by a civil war in which the internationally-recognized government, backed by the Saudi-led military coalition, is battling Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, who have captured most of north Yemen, including the capital of Sanaa.
The conflict has crippled Yemen's health infrastructure, leaving 12 million civilians on the brink of famine and another 360,000 infected with cholera.
Jaquemet said the latest string of airstrikes against civilians has exacerbated an already desperate humanitarian crisis.
"Our colleagues have noticed over the past two and a half years of conflict a complete disrespect from the various sides of basic rules of international humanitarian law," she said.