Brig. Gen. Staff Ahmed bin Hasan Asiri, the spokesman of the Coalition Forces in support for the legitimacy in Yemen, who is also Consultant at the Defense minister's office, explained to reporters tonight the regulations and tactics of monitoring and attacking a hostile target in modern wars. He also gave an account on the sources of information about the enemy and his tactics, citing the intelligence, drones, reconnaissance, humans on the ground or friendly sources. Asiri spoke in detail about how to pinpoint a military target, even though it was located in residential areas or civil facility, noting that such targets are not immediately attacked once it was proved that human and material losses might be incurred on non-military subjects. This came in the press conference Asiri held following the announcement of the Coalition Command for supporting legitimacy in Yemen to form a high-level independent team in the field of weapons and humanitarian international law to evaluate the military targeting mechanisms and incidents taking place in civil locations. Asiri said that the impartial committee formed by the Yemeni government to verify all claims has visited the relevant military authorities, including the Command of the Joint Forces and the air forces operations center. During meetings with senior officers there, the committee was convinced that there the military task they were performing was never done at random or blindly. However, human errors were not ruled out. He revealed that the committee is currently based in Aden, but having daily contact through an appointed liaison officer with the command and the center. He added that all accusations and claims reaching the Coalition Command were investigated by the committee and none was neglected. He cited the hitting of a hospital belonging to doctors without borders organization which took place at Haidan province in northern Yemen on October 25, 2015 as receiving thorough investigation, revealing that the hospital was never a military target of the Coalition Command. However, footage sent by the organization confirmed that the hospital was accidently hit.Asiri portrayed the incident as follows: a high-value movable military target was pinpointed by the front observer of the Command with the pilot making the first trial, but when he is about to reach the target, it has changed its location to the vicinity of the hospital which was invisible for the pilot who, solely, decided at the moment to make his second trial and hit his previous target, demolishing a large part of the hospital. The issue was thoroughly discussed between the organization and the Kingdom-based Command. The two parties reached an understanding of the incidents and how to evade such repetition in future. Among the points raised in the meetings was to establish a hotline between the two. Asked about the contents of a UN report on the targets of air operations, Asiri said that he has seen social media on the topic over the last two days, but the Coalition Command has not yet received such report. In response to a question, he confirmed that a multi-national investigation team was formed by the Coalition Command to verify any serious claim reaching it. He added that the team's leader and members will be announced soon and it will start work as soon as possible. He said the purpose of the team is not just investigating but also to be reassured of the accuracy of measures taken by the Coalition Command. Asked about the mechanism of offering compensation to the claimants, Asiri said that such reports would be forwarded to high-level political authorities to take action. In response to a question on the accurate numbers of human losses on the two sides, Asiri disclosed that a detailed report would be issued soon. On the other hand, he said that the Yemeni government assisted by the Coalition Command is currently embarked on building a skilled strong security and military forces which would definitely reduce the human losses and bring security and stability, now tampered by the Houthi rebels and deposed president Ali Saleh. Asked to comment on the human error that resulted in hitting a civilian target in Yemen belonging to doctors without borders organization, Asiri did not rule out human mistakes as is in any modern or traditional war. He said human errors in our case are obvious but not in high levels. He vowed that the Coalition Command would spare no effort to provide relief and humanitarian assistance for Yemeni people and enhance the work of non-governmental and relief organizations in Yemen.
