Yemeni officials have condemned the latest Saudi bombings on water facilities in Saada province – which provide water to tens of thousands of people – as a war crime.

According to sources, Saudi airplanes carried out three raids on the water reservoirs of the city of Saada in the Talmous water station late on 11 January.

“These tanks and this institution provide water supply for 130,000 civilians,” Hanin al-Darib, deputy water and environment minister, said from the attack site on 12 January.

Quoted by Al-Masirah news agency, Al-Darib said the attacks took place at a time of severe fuel shortages in the country, making life even more difficult for residents of Saada.

Officials in Saada urged international organizations to support women and children by fulfilling their responsibilities towards the drinking water project.

According to Mohammed Jaber Awad, the governor of Saada, Talmous was the only water station able to provide drinking water to the displaced and disadvantaged residents of Saada and its suburbs.

Hamid Mohmal, the deputy head of the Human Council in Saada, condemned the attack on the facilities that provide water for 45,000 families as a “war crime.”

Muhammad al-Saadi, the president of the government corporation for water and sanitation, slammed the attack as “cowardly,” saying that “the city is down now.”

On 1 August 2018, UNICEF issued a press release, calling for an “immediate halt to attacks on water facilities and civilian infrastructure” in Yemen.

According to the press release, “attacks against civilian facilities and services are unacceptable, inhumane and in breach of the basic laws of war. Ongoing violence and repeated attacks on lifesaving civilian infrastructure in Hodeida are a direct threat to the survival of hundreds of thousands of children and their families.”

In March 2015, Saudi Arabia and a couple of its traditional partners, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), launched a savage war against Yemen.