US support to coalition in Yemen not unconditional: Mattis

Mattis defended America's ongoing role in the war

WASHINGTON: US support for the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen is not 'unconditional,' Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Tuesday, as he defended America's ongoing role in the war.

The Pentagon chief's comments came the same day as UN investigators said they had reasonable grounds to believe that warring parties in Yemen may have committed a "substantial number" of violations of humanitarian law that could amount to "war crimes."

The US provides weapons, aerial refueling to jets, intelligence and targeting information to the Saudi-led coalition that is fighting the Houthis in Yemen.



Last week, the UN said two air raids killed at least 26 children and four women south of the flash-point militant-held city of Hodeidah.

Those deaths came after a coalition attack on a bus in the northern militant stronghold of Saada early this month killed 40 children.

"Our conduct there is to try and keep the human cost of innocents being killed accidentally to the absolute minimum," Mattis told Pentagon reporters.

"That is our goal where we engage with the coalition."

But, he said, US support has its limits.

"It is not unconditional," he said, noting that the coalition must do "everything humanly possible to avoid any innocent loss of life, and they support the UN-brokered peace process."

The devastating Yemen conflict has left nearly 10,000 people dead since March 2015, when the Saudi-led coalition intervened to fight Houthis closing in on the last bastion of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government.

The UN human rights office said Tuesday that some 6,660 civilians were among the dead, while more than 10,500 had been injured.
Mattis described the complexity of the war, noting that Houthi rebels have launched weapons from residential areas into Saudi Arabia.

"We have been working with the Saudis and the Emirates doing what we can to reduce any chance of innocent people being injured or killed," he said.

"At no time have we felt rebuffed or ignored when we bring concerns to them," he went on, noting that he had not seen any "callous disregard" from the coalition.

The Pentagon chief added that training given to coalition pilots is paying off.

"We have had pilots in the air who recognise the danger of a specific mission and decline to drop, even when they get the authority," he said.

"We have seen staff procedures that put no-fire areas around areas where there's hospitals or schools."