US bombs kill Yemeni civilians because Saudis don't know 'how to use them'?

The Saudi-led coalition's air raid that targeted a bus in Yemen on August 9, killing dozens of people, including children, was a "horror show" arising out of the Saudis lack of knowledge on how "to use the weapons," that were provided by the US, according to President Donald Trump.

Talking to "Axios on HBO,"  Trump refused to say if Washington would review its arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

"I think it's a terrible situation. I hated seeing what happened with the bus and the children cause that's pure — that's a horror show when you see a thing like that, you saw the bus."

"That was basically people that didn’t know how to use the weapon, which is horrible."

A number of countries have reviewed their arms sales to Saudi Arabia in light of the human rights violations in the gulf kingdom, concerns of the Yemen war and most recently the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at Riyadh's consulate in Istanbul.

But Riyadh's largest arms supplier, the US, under Trump's administration, has made it clear that weapons sales to Saudi Arabia will not be interrupted due to Washington's own economic concerns.

Following the attack in August the United Nations human rights experts had also said that the air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition in the war in Yemen have caused heavy civilian casualties and some may amount to war crimes.

Here is a list of Saudi air strikes on civilians;

October 24, 2018:

A Saudi-led coalition air strike at a fruit-and-vegetable market near Yemen's flashpoint Red Sea port of Hudaida killed at least 21 civilians, including children, according to the UN humanitarian aid agency.

The attack came amid mounting fears of a fresh coalition assault on Hudaida — a city that has been the lifeline for international aid deliveries to Yemen, a country ravaged by a brutal three-and-a-half-year war between the Saudi-led alliance and Iran-backed rebels known as Houthis.

October 13, 2018:

An air strike by the Saudi-led coalition targeting Houthis killed at least 17 people in the port city of Hudeida on Saturday, Yemeni rebel officials said.

The strike, which hit in the Jebel Ras area, also wounded 20 people, a spokesman for the rebel-run Health Ministry, Youssef al Hadari, said.

Tribal leaders said the strike hit traffic, including a bus that was completely destroyed, killing all inside, adding that women and children were among the dead. 

August 23, 2018:

Yemeni rebels have said Saudi-led coalition air strikes killed nearly 30 people in Yemen on August 23, including four women and 22 children, their media reported. 

But state media of the United Arab Emirates, a key coalition member, disputed the claim and said the Houthi rebels launched a ballistic missile attack, killing one child and injuring dozens.

Mohammed Abdul Salam, a spokesman for the Houthi rebels, said on Twitter the coalition attack took place in the Ad Durayhimi district, 20 km (12.5 miles) from the port city Hudaida in the country's west.

August 9, 2018:

An air strike by the Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthis hit a bus driving in a busy market in northern Yemen on August 9, killing at least 51 people, including at least 40 children, and wounding 77.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said one attack hit the bus driving children in Dahyan market, in northern Saada, adding hospitals there had received dozens of dead and wounded.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the air strike and called for an “independent and prompt investigation,” his spokesman said.

April 23, 2018:

An air strike by the Saudi-led coalition hit a wedding party in northern Yemen, killing at least 20 people, health officials said on Monday, as harrowing images emerged on social media of the deadly bombing, the third to hit Yemeni civilians since the weekend.

Khaled al Nadhri, the top health official in the northern province of Hajja, told The Associated Press that most of the dead were women and children who were gathered in one of the tents set up for the wedding party in the district of Bani Qayis. He says the bride was also among the dead.

Hospital chief Mohammed al Sawmali said the groom and 45 of the wounded were brought to the local Al Jomhouri hospital. Health authorities appealed to people to donate blood.

December 24-25, 2017:

With Saudi-led coalition air bombardment, more than 71 civilians, at least 14 children, were killed across Yemen. 

On the outskirts of the capital Sanaa, a witness told AFP that seven members of the same family, including women and children were killed by a coalition air strike.

Saudi-backed rebels and coalition forces have been advancing along the Red Sea coast, seized the town of Khokha earlier this month.

October 8, 2016:

Saudi-led warplanes struck a funeral at a community hall in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, the country’s Houthi-run administration said on Saturday, but the coalition denied any role in the attack. More than 140 mourners were killed, according to local health officials cited by the United Nation.

The death toll was one of the largest in any single incident since the Saudi-led alliance began military operations to try to restore President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power following his ousting by the Iran-aligned Houthis in March 2015.

September 11 2016:

At least 21 civilians were killed in northern Yemen in two separate air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition on Saturday.

According to Reuters, residents said at least 15 civilians were killed when warplanes targeted workers drilling for water in Beit Saadan, Arhab district, north of Sanaa, and that 20 others people were wounded.

Residents said Saudi-led coalition warplanes, apparently mistaking the drilling machine for a rocket launcher, bombed the site and killed four workers. The planes returned for a second bombing run when residents of the village rushed to the scene, killing at least 11 more and wounding 20.

A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition could not immediately be reached for a comment.

March 17, 2016:

42 Somali refugees were killed when a Saudi-coalition’s helicopter gunship attacked their boat off Yemen on March 17.

The area is part of a broad front where forces loyal to Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, backed by a Saudi-led coalition of Arab states, are fighting the Iran-allied Houthi movement which controls most of north and western Yemen. 

The UNHCR said on its Twitter account that 42 refugees were reported dead and 39 wounded were being treated in hospitals. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had earlier said 33 were dead, 29 wounded and other passengers were missing.

The war in Yemen, which began in 2014, between the Hadi government backed by Saudi Arabia and Houthi rebels backed by Iran, has turned more violent after the Saudi-led coalition started operations against the Houthis in March 2015.

Coalition forces have imposed severe restrictions on Red Sea ports and Sanaa airport, depriving Yemenis of vital supplies, which may also constitute international crimes, the experts said.

United Arab Emirates (UAE) personnel and proxy forces, which are part of the coalition have raped detainees and migrants, they said.

During the past three years, Saudi-led coalition carried out numerous air strikes, mostly targeting civilians, in Yemen turning the country into what the United nations calls the worst humanitarian crisis.

At least 16,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed and tens of thousands others wounded in the country. 

Meanwhile, there are at least 2 million displaced people and 22 million people who need food and health assistance in Yemen, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.