Women and children of Yemen: living proof of coalition's criminality
8 Min Read
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Yemeni children in Al-Kharaib refugee camp, Sanaa
Six years of futile war on Yemen and the Saudi-led coalition of aggression is still committing crimes against unarmed civilians, and children are no exception to these crimes.
Not only is the coalition killing civilians and robbing Yemen of its resources, brutally destroying homes, markets, and infrastructure, it is also imposing a land, sea, and air blockade, robbing the Yemenis of all tools and any will to live.
As of today, nearly 2500 days since the aggression on Yemen started, Saudi criminality has killed 3,875 children, 2,412 women, and 11,003 men. Those wounded amount to 4,270 children, 2,850 women, and 19,811 men. In total, the coalition of aggression brutally murdered 17,290 Yemenis and wounded 26,931 others.
Children of Yemen subject to all sorts of violations
Since the beginning of the war on Yemen, Yemeni children have been subject to all sorts of violations; they have been killed, incapacitated, and detained.
Yemeni children have been deprived of their right to education and healthcare and were denied a normal childhood. The criminal acts of the coalition have led to the outbreak of epidemics and psychologically scarred the children of Yemen in ways unimaginable, despite the 1949 Geneva Convention and its additional protocols I and II adopted in 1977 to safeguard the rights of children.
The Yemeni Entisaf organization for women and children's rights estimates that as of November 18, 2021, 600,000 premature infants needed fuel to run their incubators to save their lives.
More than 400,000 Yemeni children are suffering from acute malnutrition, 80,000 of which are in critical condition, and their lives are on the line, the organization said, adding that 27 of 1,000 newborns die annually.
Entisaf also found that more than 3,000 babies have congenital heart defects, noting that the coalition countries have prevented the entry of cardiac devices, putting thousands of patients being at risk of dying.
Most prominent massacres against Yemeni children
Buthaina: a mark of Saudi criminality
On August 25, 2017, the Saudi coalition of aggression committed a massacre in Sanaa's southern district of Faj Attan, launching an airstrike that flattened two buildings. The offensive cost 8-year-old Buthaina Al-Raimi her family, as she was the sole survivor of an attack that killed 16 people.
Buthaina lost her parents, uncle, four sisters, and brother.
A picture showing Buthaina trying to force open her right eye, while having her left one swollen shut due to injuries, to get a peek at who was talking to her at the hospital she had been transferred to after the tragedy gained widespread attention all over media and sparked a wave of sympathy and support for her and her country bearing the brunt of Saudi aggression.
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Buthaina Al-Raimi
The Saudi crime did not end by orphaning Buthaina and causing her unfathomable psychological trauma. Riyadh kidnapped the child after deceiving her uncle by telling him an organization wanted to shoot with the family a documentary about peace.
In 2021, Yemen finally got its child back after the Yemeni negotiation team put her name on top of their list of detainees, and Buthaina was released one day ahead of the other prisoners Saudi had detained.
Ishraq Nahm
On January 10, 2017, the Saudi coalition of aggression launched an airstrike on an elementary school in Yemen's Nahm, northeast of Sanaa. The airstrike killed three children, including Ishraq, a little girl - another victim of Saudi criminality. She was on the ground, dirt all over her school uniform and backpack, lifeless.
The offensive also killed three civilians, including the school principal, and wounded four other children.
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A child latching onto the lifeless body of his martyred father
On April 22, 2018, the Saudi-led coalition of aggression launched an airstrike on the wedding of Yahya Jaafar in Hajjah Governorate, Yemen. The airstrike murdered more than 30 civilians, the majority of which were women and children. After the fact, US forces colluding with the Saudi coalition of aggression prohibited their families and medical staff from helping the victims.
One of the most memorable moments of that night is a child that stayed next to his father's corpse, whom the airstrike killed.
Student massacre in Dahyan, Saada
On August 9, 2018, the Saudi coalition dropped a bomb on a school bus passing through a crowded market in Dahyan, Saada. The strike left 120 children dead or wounded.
The weapon used was a 227kg laser-guided bomb made by Lockheed Martin, and it was used to bomb children and civilians, leaving behind dozens of Children's bodies, a burning school bus, and Unicef backpacks.
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The aftermath of the Dahyan airstrike in Saada, Yemen, on August 9, 2018.
Yemeni women are no exception
The Yemeni Entisaf organization also revealed the violations the Saudi-led coalition committed against Yemeni women.
The organization found that the coalition's fighters raped 456 women and minors and kidnapped 423 others.
The west coast, under the control of the UAE-backed forces, saw 685 crimes, 132 of which were rape, the human rights organization revealed in a press conference at the Yemen Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Coalition's massacres against civilians
Faj Attan neighborhood massacre
On April 20, 2015, the Saudi-led coalition bombed the Faj Attan neighborhood in Sanaa using a depleted uranium bomb. The bomb was dropped by a US stealth aircraft on the residential neighborhood, resulting in nearly a thousand casualties in a radius of 3 squared km. The bomb also caused large-scale material damages, destroying homes, residential buildings, and government buildings.
Noqom massacre
On May 12, 2015, the Saudi-led coalition launched a brutal series of airstrikes on the Noqom residential neighborhood in the Yemeni capital. The coalition used highly-explosive gas and phosphorus bombs, killing and wounding more than 400 Yemeni civilians.
Taizz massacre
On August 22, 2015, the Saudi-led coalition of aggression launched a series of airstrikes that leveled an entire residential neighborhood in Taizz, with its residents still inside their homes. The attack killed and wounded a large number of Yemeni civilians, many of which were women and children.
Al-Mukha wedding massacre
On September 28, 2015, the Saudi-led deliberately committed a massacre near the Al-Makhaa port city in Taizz, killing more than 135 civilians, the majority of which were women and children, not to mention the dozens of injuries the attack resulted in.
Sanban wedding massacre
On October 8, 2015, the Saudi-led coalition launched an airstrike on a wedding in Sanban Village, Anns governorate, killing 43 civilians, the majority of which were women and children, and wounding 70 others.
Sanaa funeral home massacre
On October 8, 2016, the Saudi-led coalition committed a massacre during a funeral in the capital Sanaa, killing and wounding more than 750 civilians who had been there offering their condolences.
Arhab Funeral massacre
On February 15, 2017, the Saudi-led coalition turned a funeral in Sanaa's Arhab district into a bloodbath after directly targeting the funeral service, killing and wounding dozens of civilians, including women and children.
Harib Al-Qarmish female convoy massacre
On December 17, 2017, the Saudi-led coalition deliberately bombed a female convoy in Harib Al-Qarmish, Marib. The women had been returning home on foot from a wedding in the area, and the attack claimed 12 lives.
Hajjah wedding massacre
On April 22, 2018, the Saudi-led coalition launched an airstrike on a wedding in Hajjah's Bani Qais district, killing and wounding 90 civilians, a large number of which were children.
Al-Libi neighborhood massacre
On January 17, 2022, the Saudi-led coalition launched an airstrike on Sanaa's Al-Libi residential neighborhood, killing and wounding at least 29 civilians. The victims of the crimes included an entire family and the continuous strikes prevented ambulance crews from reaching the site.
Saada central prison massacre
On January 21, 2022, the Saudi-led coalition committed a massacre in the Saada central prison, killing at least 60 prisoners and wounding 120 others, an initial tally showed.
The central prison has more than 20,000 inmates of various nationalities, in addition to a center for Africans passing through Yemen to other countries.
