The Saudi-led Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen rejected today a recent UN report claiming it committed violations in the conflict, describing it as “imbalanced and does not rely on credible statistics.”

Coalition spokesman Brig. Gen. Ahmed bin Hassan Asiri called the report imbalanced and does not rely on credible statistics, nor does it serve the Yemeni people.”  Gen. Asiri stressed that the figures cited are misleading and that the report relies mostly on information from sources associated with the Houthi militia and the deposed former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh.”

"Regrettably, the report did not show the figures provided by the legitimate Yemeni government that highlights the employment of children by Houthi militias in fighting fields and did not highlight the number of children killed due to their use in combating, planting mines and transporting ammunition and explosives."

He said that among the most important objectives of the coalition is the protection of the Yemeni people, including children, from the practices of Houthi militias in the presence of internationally recognized legitimate government which was affirmed by the UN Resolution 2216.

Gen. Asiri said the coalition was in Yemen to “protect the Yemeni people, including children, from the actions of the Houthi militia” and cited a $30 million Saudi aid program for Yemen launched in cooperation with the UN Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).

Brigadier Asiri added, "The report is unbalanced, does not depend on reliable statistics, does not serve the Yemeni people and misleads public opinions with incorrect figures, most of them depend on information taken from parties affiliated with Houthi militias and deposed Saleh in a clear contradiction with the UN resolution, which criminalizes the coup and coup rebels and recognizes the legitimacy of the Yemeni government at a time when we were waiting for the United Nations to rely on the statistics of the legitimate Yemeni government and support the legitimacy of that government. "

He added that “the report regrettably equates international legitimacy and the legitimacy of the government with militias, who are a major cause of Yemen’s instability and chaos, and the United Nations, which should be supporting the legitimacy of the Yemeni government and deal with it for its information, instead has based its report from sources close to Houthi militias and this is misleading Yemeni and international public opinions.”

Brigadier Asir said: "We were waiting that the United Nations values the Coalition's efforts in maintaining the legitimacy of Yemen and in getting all parties to the negotiating table to reach a political solution for the situation in Yemen, according to the UN resolution."

Brigadier Asiri explained that the coincidence of the issuance of this report with the ongoing consultations in Kuwait weakens the position of the UN and its envoy and equates between the legitimacy and coup rebels, and the positive efforts of the Coalition and the negative practices of the Houthi militias and their supporters, which are obvious to any observer, and the least we can say that this report of the UN is against the future of the Yemeni citizens in general.