The UN Human Rights Council has voted to drop a UN probe into possible war crimes by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. NGOs and rights groups have decried the decision as intense Saudi arm-twisting. It marked the first time in the council’s 15-year history that a resolution was defeated. The motion was proposed by several western countries. The Dutch ambassador expressed his disappointment, saying the Council effectively cut the lifeline of the Yemeni people to the international community. Earlier this week, several rights advocacy groups revealed that Saudi Arabia had been heavily lobbying against the resolution that would extend the mandate of UN investigators in Yemen. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions of others displaced in the Saudi-led war on Yemen since 2015. The UN has already described Yemen as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.