The Yemeni National NGO Coalition for Child Rights Care and the Yemeni Center for Human Rights also called on the Yemeni and Saudi governments to stop the attacks.

The groups also urged Sana’a and Riyadh to take measures in order to open an investigation into the war crimes against civilians.

The Yemeni military has launched a major offensive, dubbed ‘Operation Scorched Earth’, against Houthi Shias in the northern sector of the country.

The government accuses the fighters led by Abdul Malik al-Houthi of seeking to restore the imamate system, which was overthrown in a 1962 coup.

The Houthis, however, argue that they are defending their rights against government marginalization, a policy which they believe has been adopted under pressure from Saudi-backed Wahhabi extremists.

The Saudi Arabian government has added to the problem by launching its own offensive against northern Yemen.

The US military is also said to raid Yemen’s northern rugged regions of Amran, Hajjah and Sa’ada which have already been the target of joint Saudi-Yemen offensives.

According to UN estimates, during the past five years, up to 175,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in Sa’ada to take refuge in overcrowded camps set up by the international body.

AR/D, PRESS TV