Yemen’s School Children are Brutally Slaughtered

YemenExtra

M.A.

Up to the moment of writing this article 51 children were killed in school bus attack and 79 have been injured according to Yemeni Ministry of Health Spokesman; Dr Yusuf al-Hathery, after an aggressive Saudi-UAE coalition air raid had hit the bus in Dhehian District,  in Saada governorate.

According to al-Hathery, 26 of the killed children are aged between 5 to 13 years old, 2 between 15 and 16 and 8 are over 20 years old. He added that other 15 children have not been identified so far. On the other hand, 39 of the injured children are between 5 and 13 years old, 21 aged between 14 and 20 years and 19 are over 21 years old.

What is the guilt committed by those innocent children in order to be murdered in this horrible way? Is it because they were going to receive a religious education? Is not the right to religious education a coherent fundamental right, such as freedom of conscience and thought? How dare those savage primitive Saudis target school children whose only weapon was a booklet of Quranic teachings?

The conspiracies of the White House, Tel Aviv and Riyadh in Yemen have led to the death of almost 3000 children. Over the 4 past years of the imposed war, the Saudi-led coalition has been committing heinous crimes that human history has ever witnessed. Targeting childhood has become the hallmark of the aggression in Yemen. On a daily basis, and along with the Great Satan, i.e. the American administration, scores of children are being murdered.

Is the life of the American and European children more worthy or more sacred than the Yemenite children’s lives. Vulnerable and armless children who are denied their homeland, freedom, education, nutrition, water, safety, medicine, etc.

Obviously, amid this global silence, the coalition freely terrify, destruct and target those children’s security, existence, identity, religion and humanity. While millions of children around the world are enjoying the summer vacation, the children of Yemen are under the fire of the medieval aggressive Saudis. They are witnessing devastation, bloodshed, torture, displacement and the spread of sorrow.

Yemenites have a broken, fragmented, smashed and miserable childhood. This is how the children of Yemen are suffering because of the Zionist and American violence and terrorism. What have those children done to be burned and torn into pieces by American-manufactured weaponry? Why do their innocence and smile turn into tragedies and catastrophes?

I ask the hypocrite international community, what is the guilt of the Yemenite children? Is not it enough? Why does your mainstream media not objectively and professionally cover the school bus crime in Dhehian, the crime of the gate of the al-Thawra hospital and the crime of fishermen market in Hodeidah?

Indeed, history would record these atrocities on its blacklist and the next generation will curse the imperialists’’ arrogance, subjugation, tyranny, crimes, falsehood and brutality against the impoverished Yemenites. It will record that, on 7 August 2018, the US-Zionist enemy aircraft allied with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates has hit a bus of school children for nothing.

Meanwhile, Yemen faces the world’s worst humanitarian crisis; it is on the verge of famine and threatened by the cholera epidemic, with more than 22.2 million civilians in need of assistance. Beyond a doubt, various Western governments, particularly the United States, are complicit of the brutal coalition in this heinous crime.

The U.S. provides unbelievable intelligence, military advice, and logistical support to the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen. Besides, it is not the first time that the coalition targets, funerals, weddings, ambulances, hospitals and so on. According to local sources, in the market’s vicinity where the attack took place, there were neither military installation nor Houthi fighters.

At least 10,000 people have been killed, According to the UN, since the onset of the imposed war. In June, the coalition’s jets carried out 258 air raids, nearly one-third of which targeted populated residential areas and civil facilities, including water and electricity sites, healthcare facilities and IDP camps in impoverished Yemen. These atrocities have sadly become too common amid the lack of accountability and the green light and privileges granted by Trump to the Saudis.

The UNICEF must immediately and unconditionally provide security and protection to the Yemenite children. It is quite difficult to treat such a big number of injured in Sanaa as its health centres are ravaged and thus the death toll is likely to rise. This worsens the situation due to the imposed blockade for there is no sufficient treatment, medicine and specialized medics.

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delegation in Yemen, Johannes Bruwer said that its medical team at the ICRC-supported hospital had received the children, all under 15 years old.

Further, Geert Cappelaere, the United Nations agency for children’s Regional Director in the Middle East and North Africa (UNICEF) condemned the attack, expressing, “No excuses anymore!” He has also asked, “Does the world really need more innocent children’s lives to stop the cruel war on children in Yemen?”

It is noteworthy to mention that those children have been supposedly attending religious classes. However, the inhumane coalition does not respect their right to religious education, which is recognized in Article 14 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Legally speaking, the air strikes violated the basic principles of international and humanitarian laws. Militarily speaking, it proves that the hostile coalition, which monitors with the help of the U.S. surveillance intelligence, pays no respect for the rights of children in the conflict zones, or that its artillery shelling is being launched indiscriminately. Religiously speaking, the coalition, which claims to be a “Muslim”, pays no respect for both the rights of children and the illegitimacy of fighting in this holy period of the lunar calendar.

The shameful silence and complicity of the international community is greatly condemned as this crime is clearly a blatant violation of the International Humanitarian laws, which criminalize targeting innocent children.  Likewise, all the given evidence support the conclusion that the coalition intentionally targets civilian gatherings. Internal human rights organizations must exert effective efforts and hold demonstrations to stop the Saudi criminal airstrikes.

This post originally ran on Real Progressive Front