The Ferocious War on Yemen’s Vulnerable Children: Report
YemenExtra
M.A.
Twenty-two children and four women, all displaced from Durihmi district in the province of Hodeidah in western Yemen, were killed by an air strike carried out by the Saudi-led coalition with support from the US and British administration.
Witnesses said in a telephone conversation with the editor of “Yemen Extra” that the warplanes bombed a bus carrying a group of civilians in the area of “Alkoui” in al Durihmi, killing 22 children and four women.
According to the war crime’s witnesses, the victims were among hundreds of civilians inside the district of al Durihmi, who were lucky enough to leave their homes in the “Alkoui” area, which has been constantly under rocket bombardment conducted by the aircraft and battleships of the Saudi-led coalition, for nearly three weeks.
Adding to the tragedy, the Saudi-led coalition has been imposing a siege on the civilians of al Durihmi, preventing them from escaping the region using hysterical raids hunting for any movements.
The director of the health office in the province of Hodeidah, Dr. Abdulrahman Jarallah, said that the crew of the International Cross of the Cross has not been able to enter the scene of the crime against the displaced children of al Durihmi, due to the intense flight and continuous raids of the US-backed coalition warplanes.
Regarding humanitarian organization’s reactions to such war crimes, the UN confirmed that Saudi Arabia’s raid on Al-Hodeidah yesterday killed 22 children and 4 women and it also expressed its concern that the Saudi coalition will continue to target health service centers in Yemen.
On the other hand, the UNICEF reported the killing of 26 children and their mothers in raids on Durihmi in Al-Hodeidah after fleeing the fighting regions and that children are the most affected by this brutal and violent war, demanding an end to the war on children in Yemen.
Just a few days earlier, the Saudi/UAE warplanes perpetrated yet another crime against dozens of innocent Yemeni children in Saada Province, northern Yemeni border.
At least 130 civilians were killed or wounded in the crime, Thursday, in a US-Saudi airstrike that targeted a school bus carrying children for a summer school on the city’s outskirts in Dhahian, Yemen’s northwestern province of Saada. At least 51 people lost their lives in the airstrike, including shoppers and passers-by, mostly children. An additional 79 sustained injuries, according to the Yemeni Health Ministry.
Several events were held in the capital Sana’a and a number of provinces expressing their condemnation regarding the crime of the Saudi-led coalition against a school bus carrying children in Dahyan in Saada, northern Yemen.
In the capital Sana’a, students affiliated with different schools in the capital Sana’a protested to condemn the crime of the US-backed coalition against the children of Saada as well as all the previous crimes against children in Yemen.
The students participating in the event lifted signs and slogans denouncing the massacre of the coalition that targeted a school bus in a busy market within the city of Dhahian, Saada, which killed dozens and wounded many others, most of them were children under the age of 15.
Going back to the war crime, the bomb that targeted the students’ bus is American-made of the type Mk82, the same type that targeted the funeral procession at al Kobra Hall in the capital Sana’a, leaving hundreds killed or injured.
The bomb used is laser-directed, which indicates that the Saudi-led coalition was following the movement of the bus since the beginning until it stopped at the market. Then the US-backed warplanes identified and deliberately bombarded the school bus. In fact, this was recognized by the coalition spokesman when he said that the targeting came after careful monitoring and a close follow-up.
Due to the intensity of the explosion, the position of the bus switched and as the driver was facing the wanted destination, it was facing the other way around after the attack.
The children who were sitting where the bomb fell are the ones missing for nothing of their bodies is left. Those who were at the front to the middle of the bus had their bodies torn into pieces. Children sitting at the back of the bus are the ones who are currently suffering from various injuries.
On August 13h, hundreds of thousands of citizens from Sana’a governorate, Sana’a and several other governorates participated in the funeral procession for the innocent victims. They carried flags of the Republic of Yemen, photos of martyrs, banners of freedom and signs demanding the boycott of US and Israeli goods.
The ceremony began with a mass rally in which participants chanted slogans condemning the crime and calling for revenge. The crowds participated in the funeral on the main street, the largest street in the city of Saada.
After the funeral prayer, the head of the Supreme Revolutionary Committee delivered a speech in which he stressed that America is killing the Yemeni people for it is a strategic ally of Saudi Arabia that is attacking Yemen.
He affirmed that the crime of targeting Dhahian’s children has been perpetrated by the United States and its allies, pointing to the statement of the US State Department that said it is the Kingdom’s right to eliminate all opponents.
A number of international news agencies and television channels participated in the ceremony, while a number of local and international television channels had a live broadcast of the event.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) described the attack by the Saudi-led coalition, backed by the United States, on the bus carrying children in the Yemeni province of Sa’ada as the worst attack targeting children.
“Yemen bus attack that killed scores, including many under-15, is the worst single attack ever on children since the conflict in Yemen escalated in 2015,” UNICEF said in a tweet.
“The horrific attack on a bus in Sa’ada, Yemen, killing and maiming many children, marks a low point in the country’s brutal war. It should be a turning point. Enough is enough,” UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta H. Fore tweeted.
The daily Saudi war on Yemen continues to prove to the world that this impoverished country’s children are the most vulnerable for not only are they directly targeted, but they are also dying in thousands due to preventable diseases. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that as many as 66,000 Yemeni children under the age of five die every year from preventable diseases.
UNICEF representative in Yemen, Meritxell Relano, said on Twitter that half of these children die during childbirth or in the first month of life, while others die from preventable diseases such as diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition.
She added that children in Yemen continue to be killed in several provinces, stressing on the need to end the war.
According to UN officials, more than 16,000 people have been killed in the war, while more than 11 per cent of the country’s population has been displaced.
Regardless of the humanitarian organization’s condemnations, the Saudi-led coalition maintains its reckless and indiscriminate bombardment on Yemen. Just as Yemenis could not forget the school bus crime, the US-backed coalition committed yet another crime targeting displaced children in Hodeidah.