RIYADH: The Saudi-led coalition battling Yemeni rebels said Saturday that one of its warplanes had “wrongly targeted” a funeral in the capital Sanaa, killing more than 140 people, and announced disciplinary proceedings.

The October 8 strike prompted an international outcry and strong criticism even from Saudi Arabia’s closest Western allies.

“Because of non-compliance with coalition rules of engagement and procedures, and the issuing of incorrect information, a coalition aircraft wrongly targeted the location, resulting in civilian deaths and injuries,” an inquiry team found.

“Appropriate action… must be taken against those who caused the incident, and… compensation must be offered to the families of the victims.”

The strike was one of the deadliest in the coalition’s nearly 19-month-old bombing campaign in support of Yemen’s beleaguered government.

More than 6,700 people have been killed in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country since the coalition first intervened, nearly two-thirds of them civilians, according to the United Nations.

Britain is to present a draft resolution to the UN Security Council next week calling for an immediate ceasefire in Yemen, after an earlier text condemning the funeral bombing was rejected by Russia as not strong enough.

The inquiry team called on coalition commanders to change their procedures to prevent any repetition of the failings that led to the strike.

“Coalition forces must immediately review their rules of engagement and update their procedures to ensure adherence in future,” the team said.

The air raid, which targeted the funeral of the father of a senior Huthi rebel commander, also wounded at least 525 people, more than 300 of them critically.

The outcry over the number of civilian casualties prompted the coalition to announce an easing of the air blockade it has enforced since March last year to allow the evacuation of the most seriously wounded for treatment abroad.

An Omani aircraft landed in the rebel-held Yemeni capital on Saturday to evacuate 115 of the most seriously wounded, a rebel official said.

“They are the first group of wounded to be evacuated for treatment abroad,” the rebels’ deputy health minister Nasser Awjali told reporters.

Oman is the only Gulf Arab state that is not part of the coalition fighting the Huthi rebels and has previously organised evacuations from Sanaa of Westerners and others who had been detained by the insurgents.

The Omani aircraft also flew home to Sanaa rebel negotiators who had been stranded in the sultanate’s capital Muscat since the collapse of UN-brokered peace talks in Kuwait in August because of the air blockade, an AFP photographer reported.

Human Rights Watch said that the strike on the funeral was an “apparent war crime.”

“While military personnel and civilian officials involved in the war effort were attending the ceremony, the clear presence of several hundred civilians strongly suggests that the attack was unlawfully disproportionate,” the New York-based watchdog said on Thursday.

The coalition initially denied responsibility but after condemnation from Western governments, it promised an investigation of the “regrettable and painful” event.

A letter sent to the UN Security Council last weekend “expressed the kingdom’s deep regret” over the “attack”.

There was huge pressure on the coalition to publish the findings of its investigation into the raid as swiftly as possible.

The inquiry team concluded that “a party affiliated to the Yemeni presidency of the General Chief of Staff wrongly passed information that there was a gathering of armed Huthi leaders in a known location in Sanaa, and insisted that the location be targeted immediately as a legitimate military target.

“The Air Operations Centre in Yemen directed a close air support mission to target the location without obtaining approval from the coalition command to support legitimacy and without following the coalition command’s precautionary measures to ensure that the location is not a civilian one that may not be targeted.”</s>JEDDAH: A joint investigation team on Saturday found that the Saudi-led Coalition bombed a funeral ceremony in Sanaa last week based on wrong information that the hall was packed with Houthi leaders.

Some 140 people were killed in the bombing and more than 600 were wounded in the air strike on Oct. 8, prompting condemnations.

The Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT) said the wrong information was provided by “a party affiliated to the Yemeni Presidency of the General Chief of Staff.”

It said the information claimed that there was a gathering of armed Houthi leaders “and insisted that the location be targeted immediately as a legitimate military target,” the investigators said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

JIAT is an oversight body composed of representatives from coalition states, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Yemen, created in January to look into complaints about the coalition’s conduct in its “Decisive Storm” campaign in Yemen.

The report said the Air Operation Center in Yemen directed a “close air support mission” to target the site without getting approval from the coalition’s command, a violation of protocol.

"Because of non-compliance with coalition rules of engagement and procedures, and the issuing of incorrect information, a coalition aircraft wrongly targeted the location, resulting in civilian deaths and injuries," the report said.

It called for a review of rules of engagement and compensation for the families of victims.

Houthis and the group of former Yemen president Abdullah Saleh have seized on the bombing incident to discredit the Coalition, which had intervened in Yemen in April 2015 to restore the UN-recognized government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.

The investigation said the source of the information insisted the location was “a legitimate military target.” A number of Houthi leaders were said to be among those killed or wounded in the funeral, which was of the father of a senior Houthi rebel commander.

Nonetheless, the JIAT said “appropriate action must be taken against those who caused the incident.”

JIAT’s statement said the team is “still gathering and analyzing data related to the incident, namely reports about some sides that used this erroneous bombing to increase the number of victims, in coordination with the relevant agencies of the legitimate Yemeni government and concerned states, and will announce the results as soon as its investigations are complete.”

The Hadi government has yet to publicly comment on the October 8 bombing.

Yemen’s chief of staff is Maj. Gen. Mohammed Ali Al-Maqdishi, a close ally of the powerful army general Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar, now serving as vice president.

Coalition accepts JIAT findings

In a statement on SPA, the Coalition Forces Command said it had examined the results of the JIAT investigation into the Great Hall incident and “affirms that it accepts the results of the investigation, and has begun to implement the JIAT's recommendations.”

“The coalition command expresses its regret at this unintentional incident and the ensuing pain for victims' families. The incident is not in line with the coalition's objectives, namely protecting civilians and restoring safety and stability to Yemen.” the statement said.

In a letter to the United Nations Security Council last weekend, Saudi Arabia expressed “deep regret" over the attack.

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman subsequently directed the King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Aid (KSRelief) to coordinate with the Arab coalition, the legitimate Yemeni government, and UN organizations to facilitate the transfer abroad of the injured who need to be treated in the funeral bombing.

KSRelief has been instructed to allocate the amount of SR200 million for the operation, with Sudan as the possible host country to treat the wounded.

An Agence France Presse report on Saturday said an Omani aircraft landed in the rebel-held Yemeni capital on Saturday to evacuate 115 of the most seriously wounded, but it was not clear whether the treatment would be done in Sudan or Oman.

Oman is the only Gulf Arab state that is not part of the coalition fighting the Houthi rebels and has previously organized evacuations from Sanaa of Westerners and others who had been detained by the insurgents.

The Omani aircraft also flew home to Sanaa the rebel negotiating team which had been stranded in the sultanate’s capital Muscat since the collapse of UN-brokered peace talks in Kuwait in August because of the air blockade, said the report.</s>A Saudi-led coalition attacked a funeral in Yemen after receiving incorrect information that armed Houthi leaders were in the area, an investigative body set up by the coalition said on Saturday.

The Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT) said coalition air operations officials also failed to obtain approval for the strike from commanders, a violation of protocol, according to the statement, carried by state news agency SPA.

The JIAT called for a review of rules of engagement and compensation for the families of victims.</s>CAIRO (AP) — An investigation team with the Saudi-led coalition said on Saturday that wrong information led to the lethal bombing of a packed funeral in the Yemeni capital Sanaa last weekend, which killed around 140 people and wounded more than 600.

The Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT) accused “a party affiliated to the Yemeni Presidency of the General Chief of Staff” of passing wrong information that the hall was packed with Houthi leaders, whom the coalition has been targeting since their militias swept the capital last year and forced Yemen’s internationally-recognized government into exile in Riyadh.

It added that the party insisted the location was “a legitimate military target,” the statement written in English said. It also said the Air Operation Center in Yemen directed a “close air support mission” to target the site without getting approval from the coalition’s command. The committee said compensation must be offered to the victims’ families.

“JIAT has found that because of non-compliance with Coalition rules of engagement (ROEs) and procedures, and the issuing of incorrect information a Coalition aircraft wrongly targeted the location, resulting in civilian deaths and injuries,” it said.

This is the first time the coalition acknowledges it was behind the bombing, after an initial denial. The Yemeni government in Riyadh led by President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi made no public comment on the bombing of the funeral.

The statement gave no clear indication of which party provided the information. The Yemeni Chief of Staff is Maj. Gen. Mohammed Ali al-Maqdishi, who is close to the powerful army general Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar — now serving as a vice president and a top ally to Yemen’s Muslim Brotherhood-tribal and political arm.

The investigation team called on the coalition to “immediately review their rules of engagement.”

The US-backed coalition, which accuses Houthis of being proxies to Iran, has come under heavy international pressure to investigate the bombing. The Human Rights Watch rights group said in a report Thursday that the bombing constitutes an apparent war crime and said remnants of a US-made bomb were found at the site of the strikes.

Along with arms, the United States provides the coalition with logistical support and mid-air refueling of its warplanes and has faced a backlash after the bombing. The White House said it will immediately review its assistance to the Saudi-led coalition and that such assistance is not a “blank check.”

The coalition’s bombing of the hall is not the first attack on civilians by warplanes. Over the past year, busy markets, weddings, schools, and hospitals have been bombed, resulting in hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries.</s>The Saudi Arabia-led coalition battling Yemeni rebels said on Saturday that one of its war planes had “wrongly targeted” a funeral in the capital Sana’a, killing more than 140 people, and announced disciplinary proceedings. The October 8 strike prompted an international outcry and strong criticism even from Saudi Arabia’s closest Western allies.

“Because of non-compliance with coalition rules of engagement and procedures, and the issuing of incorrect information, a coalition aircraft wrongly targeted the location, resulting in civilian deaths and injuries,” an inquiry team found.

“Appropriate action... must be taken against those who caused the incident, and... compensation must be offered to the families of the victims.” The strike was one of the deadliest in the coalition's nearly 19-month-old bombing campaign in support of Yemen’s beleaguered government.

The inquiry team called on coalition commanders to change their procedures to prevent any repetition of the failings that led to the strike.</s>Members of the Higher Council for Civilian Community Organization inspect a destroyed funeral hall as they protest against a deadly Saudi-led airstrike on a funeral hall six days ago, in Sanaa, Yemen, on Oct. 13, 2016.

CAIRO — A Saudi-led coalition on Saturday blamed "wrong information" for the bombing last weekend of a packed funeral hall in the Yemeni capital Sanaa that killed at least 140 people and wounded some 600.

The coalition's Joint Incidents Assessment Team, or JIAT, said a "party" affiliated to Yemen's General Chief of Staff headquarters had passed intelligence that the hall was filled with leaders of Shiite Houthi rebels, whom the coalition has been targeting since March 2015 when it intervened in Yemen's civil war in support of the internationally recognized government.

The unidentified party insisted the site was "a legitimate military target," the English-language statement said. The Air Operation Center in Yemen, it added, directed a "close air support mission" to target the site without approval from the coalition's command.

The investigation team called on the coalition to immediately review the rules of engagement and recommended that compensation be offered to the victims' families.

"JIAT has found that because of non-compliance with Coalition rules of engagement and procedures, and the issuing of incorrect information, a Coalition aircraft wrongly targeted the location, resulting in civilian deaths and injuries," it said.

This is the first time the coalition has acknowledged it was behind the bombing, after an initial denial. The Yemeni government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has yet to publicly comment on the October 8 bombing.

Yemen's chief of staff is Maj. Gen. Mohammed Ali al-Maqdishi, a close ally of the powerful army general Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, now serving as vice president. Al-Ahmar is also a top ally of Yemen's Muslim Brotherhood, whose followers are fighting the Houthis alongside government troops.

The US-backed coalition, which accuses Houthis of being Iranian proxies, has come under heavy international pressure to investigate the bombing. Human Rights Watch said in a report Thursday that the bombing constitutes an apparent war crime and said remnants of a US-made bomb were found at the site of the strike.

Along with arms, the United States provides the coalition with logistical support and mid-air refueling of its warplanes. The White House has said it will immediately review its assistance to the Saudi-led coalition, explaining that such assistance was not a "blank check."

The bombing of the funeral hall was not the first by the Saudi-led coalition to lead to civilian casualties. Over the past year, busy markets, weddings, schools, and hospitals have been bombed by the Saudi-led coalition, resulting in hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries.

The deadly airstrikes on the funeral triggered a wave of counter-attacks against both U.S. and Saudi targets.

A U.S. Navy destroyer deployed in international waters in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen came under attack twice in recent days from areas under Houthi control. In response, the U.S. destroyed three radar installations in Houthi-controlled ports near the Bab al-Mandab strait on Thursday, in the first direct U.S. involvement in the war in Yemen.

The Houthis denied firing at the destroyer and accused the U.S. of using the attack as a justification to become directly involved in the war against the militias.

Houthis and allied army units loyal to ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh have also fired rockets and missiles targeting Saudi military installations and air bases across the Yemen-Saudi border.

On the diplomatic and political level, the bombing intensified pressure on the Saudi-led coalition. The coalition had forced the closure of Sanaa international airport for the past two months, after the collapse of peace talks between rival parties in Kuwait.

However, a Houthi official said Saturday that the coalition has agreed to open the airport to allow a team of peace negotiators sent by Houthis and allies from Saleh's onetime ruling party to return to the country. The negotiators have been stuck for in Oman for two months after leaving Kuwait.

Meanwhile, more than 100 people who were injured in the funeral hall bombing have been allowed medical evacuation to seek treatment outside of Yemen, a government official said.

Both the Houthi and government officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.

The Saudi-led coalition has imposed a blockade on Yemen since the start of the war.
Saudi Arabia accepts the finding of the Joint Incidents Assessment Team, a setup of coalition states to investigate complaints against coalitions conduct in Decisive Storm, that the October 8 coalition’s bombardment at a funeral ceremony in Sana'a, in which over 140 people were killed and more than 600 injured, was based on wrong information.