[08/05/2018 02:00]

RIYADH-SABA
The spokesman of the Arab Coalition Colonel Turki al-Maliki said that the Coalition's airstrike on the presidential palace in Sana'a on Monday targeted first-grade and second-grade Houthi leaders.

In a press conference later in the day, he said that the strike was in accordance with a confirmed intelligence tipoff. Lately the Coalition has killed the chief of the rebels' self-proclaimed "Political Council" Saleh al-Sammad in a strike.

Al-Maliki said that the Houthimilitia deliberately recruit child fighters exploiting the financial need of the Yemeni families.

He pointed to the reports of the National Committee for Investigating into Alleged Human Rights Abuses whichshow that Houthis take the bodies of their killed child fighters to Sana'a and other cities where are issued death certificates and documented as civilian casualties of Arab airstrikes.

He pointed out that the Arab Coalition is doing a lot to protect children. Lately a Child Protection Unit was established under the command of the Arab Coalition Forces and an agreement was signed with the United Nations in this regard, stressing that all Yemeni families should protect their children and not send them to warfronts.

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