More sadness and mourning in Yemen following the massacre of children in a school bus by Saudi Arabia bomber jets in a country labelled the worst humanitarian disaster. Rows of graves prepared for school children bombed by Saudi Arabia Air Force on 9 August 2018. ~ Photo by Naif Rahma / Reuters
by Melissa Hemingway Feminine-Perspective Staff
As information continues to flow from the Saudi Air Force attack on the market in Sa’ada’s Majz district it has begun to appear that the attack by Saudi Arabia was intended to cause civilian casualties against the Houthi people of Yemen.
The United Nations has demanded a full investigation.
The Saudi/UAE coalition says that it has submitted a request for investigation to its own Joint Incident Investigation Team but in the meantime the Saudi’s have declared the killings in the market of 50 people, mostly children, and the 6 dozen injuries where part of normal operations. An investigator from The RINJ Foundation tells Feminine-Perspective that some 60% of all deaths in the Yemen conflict are civilians, more than half being unsuspecting women and children killed in air raids.
Civil society is demanding that hostilities end based on the UN plan: UN-Humanitarian-Response-Plan-January-to-December-2018.
Continuing the violence in Yemen is a festering suck mindedness that needs calm, stabilizing and ongoing treatment. Rage around the world over this incident is swelling.
This blame put to Saudi for killing the children comes as little surprise since more than 60% of Yemeni civilian deaths have been the result of Saudi-led air strikes, the UN said in January of this year. But the alarming reality is that last Thursday’s attack took place far from any fighters or fighting.
That too is not unusual. In June 2018, Saudi and UAE forces carried out 258 air raids on Yemen, one-third of which targeted non-military sites according to an analysis of the Coalition’s news releases.
It was a market. At the market a school bus was bombed heavily. There’s not much left of the bus. Here is the remnants of the bus captured in a TV video and shared with you. Prepare yourself for the images of injured children far below.
This was a school bus. 45 Children plus dozens injured from Saudi Air Strike in Yemen Market – Photo Credit: 9 August Screen Capture from local Saana TV
The conflict is basically a surrogate war between the Sunnis Muslims of Saudi Arabia and the Shia Muslims of Iran.
Saudi Sunni Muslims are backed by the United States, France and Britain against a Houthi movement, which supports Yemen’ Zaidi Shia Muslim minority with the backing of Yemeni Sunnis who are also seeking major reform in the country. Saudi is using its massive cash reserves to buy huge volumes of military goods from the US, Britain, and France. (It is also buying 15 billion dollars worth pf Light Armoured Vehicles which we have seen in Yemen.
The ‘Canadian’ LAVs are built by US-owned General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) Division which has located a factory in Canada as part of an industrial offset program after winning a contract with the Canadian government.
(GDLS makes some of the best light armoured vehicles in the world. The Saudi units are intended for the safe transport of military personnel, journalists, medical teams and observers in combat zones and elsewhere. I have travelled in one of these units and they are not the most comfortable armoured cars but for some reason they feel safer than the American Humvee (Hummer H1) which are constantly being blown up by improvised explosive devices. Humvee Occupants rarely survive.)
The Houthi group fought a series of rebellions against Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh who had ruled Yemen for 33 years. Saleh was eventually forced to hand over power to his deputy, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, in 2011.
President Hadi was compelled to deal with attacks by al-Qaeda; a separatist movement, the Southern Transitional Council (STC) stirring up trouble in the south of Yemen; and dissident military officers loyal to the ousted Saleh.
Hadi also faced pervasive corruption in Yemen. Extreme unemployment and food insecurity added to the country’s woes and the governance of Mr. Hadi was failing when the Houthi grabbed some control of Yemen’s northern heartland of Saada province in September 2014 plus surrounding environs. The Houthi had full control of Saada by March of 2015 when Saudi Arabia invaded Yemen, much to the anguish of Iran.
Since Saudi Arabia invaded Yemen, backed by the United States, human rights violations have become a daily event and the country has become the world’s worst human rights fiasco. The invasion of Saudi Arabia has introduced
Hospitalized Survivors – 45 Children plus dozens injured from Saudi Air Strike in Yemen Market – Photo Credit: 9 August Screen Capture from local Saana TV
Humanitarian worker helps an injured child escape the bombed rubble. 45 Children plus dozens injured from Saudi Air Strike in Yemen Market – Photo Credit: 9 August Screen Capture from local Saana TV
50 People Killed including 45 Children plus dozens injured from Saudi Air Strike in Yemen Market – Photo Credit: 9 August Screen Capture from local Saana TV
Undernourished and now bombed child. The sadness of Yemen is in all the children’s eyes. 50 People Killed including 45 Children plus dozens injured from Saudi Air Strike in Yemen Market – Photo Credit: 9 August Screen Capture from local Saana TV
The UN Secretary-General António Guterres has condemned the air strike by the Saudi forces in Sa’ada, which hit a busy market area in Majz District and impacted a bus carrying children from a summer camp. Local health authorities have confirmed that scores of people were killed and injured, the majority of them children between 10 and 13 years old.
Read: UN-Humanitarian-Response-Plan-January-to-December-2018
Secretary General Guterres called on all parties to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law, in particular the fundamental rules of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack.
The UN has been urging for a negotiated political settlement through inclusive intra-Yemeni dialogue as the only way to end the conflict.
Source: United Nations
Source: United Nations
Source: United Nations
Source: United Nations