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Joint Incident Assessment Team in Yemen Underlines Soundness of Coalition Strikes

JIAT spokesman and legal advisor Mansour al-Mansour during a press conference in Riyadh. (SPA)
JIAT spokesman and legal advisor Mansour al-Mansour during a press conference in Riyadh. (SPA)
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Joint Incident Assessment Team in Yemen Underlines Soundness of Coalition Strikes

JIAT spokesman and legal advisor Mansour al-Mansour during a press conference in Riyadh. (SPA)
JIAT spokesman and legal advisor Mansour al-Mansour during a press conference in Riyadh. (SPA)

The Joint Incident Assessment Team (JIAT) in Yemen refuted on Sunday allegations against the Saudi-led coalition by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and Human Rights Watch, saying that strikes in the war-torn country adhere to international laws.

Team spokesman and legal advisor Mansour al-Mansour denied during a press conference in Riyadh accusations that the coalition was striking civilian targets, saying that they have all been military targets that fall within the jurisdiction of international law,

He said that the coalition received five complaints that it had struck illegitimate targets, adding however that the Assessment team’s investigations refuted them.

Four of the complaints were filed by UN-affiliated groups and the fifth was filed by Human Rights Watch.

Mansour addressed the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights report from August 2016, which accused the coalition of bombing al-Sabeen maternity hospital in Sana'a, killing two newborn children and wounding two medical staff. The hospital building was partially damaged.

JIAT assessed the incident, and reviewed all related documents, including the procedures and Rules of Engagement, the Daily Air Mission Schedule and verified the evidence. Intelligence information concerning military activities by former Republican Guard supporting the Houthi militia found that they based their forces inside the former Special Security Forces camp in Sana'a

Coalition forces targeted specific buildings inside the camp, which were legitimate military targets, using guided bombs that accurately hit the targets. However, due to the shockwave, the hospital suffered minor collateral damage, explained Mansour.

JIAT concluded that the coalition did not target the hospital, and the procedures followed by coalition forces regarding the military objective were correct, and in accordance with International Humanitarian Law

Mansour stressed that the coalition seeks to target military objectives and strikes are based on intelligence information.

Furthermore, he revealed that a committee was formed by a royal decree to follow up on the needs of those affected by the strikes.

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Taiwan’s Representative to Saudi Arabia: 260,000 Pagers Exported in Two Years

Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Taiwan’s Representative to Saudi Arabia: 260,000 Pagers Exported in Two Years

Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Taiwan is investigating who is responsible for modifying the pagers that were turned into explosives in the hands of the Lebanese people, including members of Hezbollah.

Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang told Asharq Al-Awsat that 260,000 pagers were exported from his country between 2022 and 2024, and 16 percent of them were sent to the United States and Europe.

He expressed his regret that the pagers were planted with explosives that were used in the attack in Lebanon last month, clarifying that the devices were not directly exported from Taiwan to Lebanon.

He explained that the components of the device are made of material that is not liable to explode.

Apollo Gold, the Taiwanese company that exported the pagers between 2022 and 2024, has never received any complaints that its devices have caused harm or exploded.

The attack in Lebanon has raised several questions and they are being probed by authorities in Taiwan, he went on to say.

One thing is for certain, the devices were not harmful in the shape they were exported from the country, stressed Chang.

Asked about whether the attack may harm Taiwan’s economy, he replied that his country’s industry sector has a strong reputation that will be difficult to undermine given the trust it has from clients.

The size of the sector and Taiwan’s investments cannot be measured by a small number of pagers, as they only make up a mere fraction in the country’s trade relations with countries all over the world, he stressed.

Separately, Chang revealed that Taiwan was considering cooperation with Saudi Arabia in the chip industry, saying he was optimistic over the broad potential for cooperation in the technology sector.

There are no limits to the cooperation between them, he added.

Taiwan constantly wants to maintain the relations and discuss opportunities for joint investments, he stated.

Taiwan was among the first countries to leap to cooperate with Saudi Arabia in all fields to help the Kingdom achieve its Vision 2030 that is spearheaded by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, Chang said.