Rights group Saudi-led coalition damaged Yemen's economy

FILE - In this Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015, file photo, a worker looks at a chocolate factory destroyed by a Saudi-led airstrike in Sanaa, Yemen. Businesses worth millions of dollars have sustained major destruction in Yemen’s year-long conflict either by the Saudi-led coalition targeting Shiite rebels or ground fighting and random shelling by the rival parties, an international rights group said Monday. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed) (The Associated Press)

In this Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2015, file photo, a Coca-Cola beverages factory is seen after Saudi-led air strikes destroyed it in Sanaa, Yemen. Businesses worth millions of dollars have sustained major destruction in Yemen’s year-long conflict either by the Saudi-led coalition targeting Shiite rebels or ground fighting and random shelling by the rival parties, an international rights group said Monday. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed, File) (The Associated Press)

SANAA, Yemen – An international rights group says the Saudi-led coalition targeting Yemen's Shiite rebels has also damaged the impoverished country's economic infrastructure in the year-long air campaign.

Human Rights Watch says in a new report released on Monday that the air campaign has struck factories, warehouses, and power stations. The group documented airstrikes on 13 key facilities since the beginning of the Saudi-led campaign in March 2015, until February.

The New York-based watchdog says the airstrikes killed 130 civilians in those facilities, which produced, stored, and distributed food, medicine, and electricity. The strikes also left hundreds of Yemenis unemployed.

HRW says that "taken together, the attacks on factories and other civilian economic structures raise serious concerns that the Saudi-led coalition has deliberately sought to inflict widespread damage to Yemen's production capacity."