HRW has also called for sanctions against Israel, which is what the Yemenis are effectively doing. I’m not sure how HRW squares that circle, but maybe they are just not a very serious organization. Five civilian deaths (as you say; the article you linked doesn’t mention any) is certainly a shame, but sanctions have to be enforced somehow.
Cool! Let’s sanction Israel then! HRW squares that circle because two people can be wrong at once. Shooting civilians is not sanctioning. The US doesn’t sanction North Korea by blowing up South Korean shipping.
The US maintains its sanctions against the DPRK (and Cuba, and Iran, etc.) by having established a credible threat of violence against anyone, including civilians, that might attempt to ignore or circumvent them. Those sanctions also directly target civilians as well because they include banking, which has the practical effect of blocking things like medical supplies even if such goods are explicitly permitted in the sanction orders. The Yemenis are doing a comparatively better job of not targeting civilians in spite of the less sophisticated means at their disposal.
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