Riyadh: The Saudi-led coalition’s combat planning chief on Saturday defended the air war in Yemen against widespread international concern about high numbers of civilian casualties.
In an exclusive interview with AFP, the Royal Saudi Air Force brigadier general - who cannot be identified under the military’s security restrictions - accused rights groups and other critics of “looking through one eye only”.
“They are receiving all the information from the adversary,” he said of Yemen’s Al Houthi militants supported by forces loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
“We are sticking to the rules, the international rules and Geneva Convention, first, and law of conflict,” said the brigadier.
“We don’t deviate from those standards,” the brigadier told AFP during the first visit by a foreign journalist to the coalition’s planning and operations centre at King Salman Air Base in Riyadh.
“We don’t target civilians. It is propaganda,” he said, nearly 10 months into the Arab coalition’s war in support of Yemen’s President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
The brigadier said that the more than 50 people working around the clock in his planning cell have taken courses in the United States, Britain and France.
“The people here, they are trained very well and they are professional,” he said.
On another floor is the operations centre, where officers monitor large screens showing surveillance images from Yemen.
The centre is linked directly to the coalition commander.
“We know where our aircraft are now over Yemen and what they are doing,” the planning chief said.
Aircrews also must ensure no civilians are in the area before releasing their bombs, which are guided by GPS or laser for accuracy.
“We abort our mission” if civilians are present, the brigadier said.
“Because if we don’t target today we can target tomorrow or after tomorrow. We are not in a hurry.”
