NAJRAN, Saudi Arabia 21 May 2018: The Spokesman of the Arab Coalition Forces Supporting Legitimacy in Yemen, Colonel Turki Al Malki, has said that on Saturday ‘Jameela’, a 4-year old girl used as a human shield by terrorists, was safely secured and handed over to a representative of the legitimate government of Yemen.
The girl was reunited to her family in the presence of representatives of International Committee of the Red Cross, Saudi Red Crescent Authority, Human Rights Commission and Director of the Child Protection Unit in the Coalition’s Joint Forces Command, said Wam.
Col. Al Malki explained that the Yemen National Army intercepted a military vehicle belonging to Houthi militia during an operation to liberate Sa’dah governorate. They found a 4-year-old girl dressed in boys clothes. Upon investigation, it was discovered that the driver was her father, a terrorist Iranian-Houthi militia field commander carrying advanced tactical weapons.
The presence of a child in the battlefield was for the reason of being used as a human shield, as the terrorist Iranian-Houthi militia knew the Coalitions’ rules of engagement, especially those related to child protection.
The Coalition Joint Forces, represented by its Child Protection Unit, provided necessary medical care to the child, communicated and coordinated the safe transfer of the child to her family. She was handed over to the legitimate government of Yemen, in the presence of her family and relatives yesterday. The Joint Forces Command provided, as well, financial aid to the child and her family.
Col. Al Malki reassured that what the terrorist Houthi militia is doing represents flagrant defiance of the international humanitarian law through recruiting children, throwing them into the battlefield and using them as human shields to ensure the safety of their movements and that they will not be targeted as legitimate military targets.