Report shows scale of destruction by UK-armed strikes in Yemen

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Oxfam
11 Jan 2023 20:28
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The issue of this report comes in the backdrop of a legal suit brought by Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) against the UK government over the supply of arms and weapons to support the Saudis in their ongoing aggression against Yemen.

In this Jun. 9, 2017 file photo, people stand on the rubble of houses destroyed by Saudi-led coalition airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed, File)

An Oxfam report published on Wednesday disclosed some serious statistics of casualties in Yemen due to the US-Saudi-led coalition which has been regularly bombing civilian areas under since 2015.

Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the world, has for 14 consecutive months (January 2021 to the end of February 2022) endured more than four armed attacks on civilians on a daily basis, the report states.

The report found that air raids carried out by the US-UK-Saudi-led coalition were using weapons solely supplied by the UK and the US.

It found that the use of these weapons accounted for about a quarter of all attacks on civilians, which amounted to 1,700 attacks on Yemenis that either killed them, wounded them, or forced them to be displaced.

They also found that between the period of January 2021 to the end of February 2022, the US-UK-Saudi-led coalition was responsible for at least: 87 civilian deaths and 136 injuries; 19 attacks on hospitals, clinics, and ambulances; and 293 attacks that forced people to flee their homes – 39 percent of all attacks causing displacement.

The issue of this report comes in the backdrop of a legal suit brought by Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) against the UK government over the supply of arms and weapons to support the Saudis in their ongoing aggression against Yemen.

The suit is reportedly taking place this month at the High Court in London and Oxfam reportedly intervened to support the campaign.

Oxfam’s Policy Advisor on Arms and Conflict and author of the report, Martin Butcher, said "The sheer number of attacks on civilians is a stark testament to the terrible tragedy the people of Yemen have suffered. Our analysis shows there is a pattern of violence against civilians, and all sides in this conflict have not done enough to protect civilian life, which they are obligated to do under International Humanitarian Law."

"The intensity of these attacks would not have been possible without a ready supply of arms. That is why it’s vital the UK government and others must immediately stop the arms sales that are fuelling war in Yemen," he added.

Since the beginning of the aggression, the UK has reportedly sold at least £7.9 billion in arms to Saudi Arabia for a number of 547 licenses.

But experts from CAAT estimate the true value of arms sales to be over £23 billion if 'open licenses' are taken into account.

In June 2019, a hearing about the UK's sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia forced the government to halt the issue of arms licenses. But shortly after, the government resumed its arms sales after it announced it carried out a minor reform in the issue of its licenses.

"One of the reasons the government gave for restarting arms sales was its view that attacks that breached or potentially breached International Humanitarian Law were isolated incidents that did not display a particular pattern," Butcher said.

"Our report reveals a very different picture, a large number of attacks that harm civilians every day. These daily events require proper investigation and while there is a risk that serious human rights abuses could be taking place, arms sales must be immediately discontinued."

On January 3rd, a Yemeni rights group said that the Saudi-led coalition, through the criminality it is imposing via airstrikes against the people of Yemen, has killed and injured more than 3,000 civilians, including women and children in 2022.

The Humanity Eye Center for Rights and Development issued a report on Monday that showed the number of casualties of the war on Yemen in 2022 alone was as high as 3,083 - 643 murdered citizens and 2,440 others wounded.

Some 102 children lost their lives and 353 others sustained injuries, with 27 women killed and 97 others wounded, the report added.

"The aggression against Yemen has resulted in the injury of 2,440 civilians, including 353 children and 97 women, since the beginning of 2022," the report said.

Additionally, the report revealed that among the dead were 514 men, in addition to 1,990 others wounded.

Material losses

The Saudi-led coalition dealt heavy blows to the Yemeni infrastructure in 2022, destroying 14,367 homes, 134 mosques, 5 tourist facilities, 12 hospitals, 64 schools, and educational facilities, 1,987 agricultural fields, 2 sports facilities, 3 archaeological sites, 7 media facilities, the report added.

The Saudi-led coalition also targeted Sanaa International Airport, Al-Hudaydah port, and 22 power stations and generators.

Additionally, the coalition of aggression destroyed 22 power stations, 974 roads, and bridges, 46 communication towers and stations, 334 reservoirs and water stations, and 57 government facilities.

Businesses were not exempt either, with the coalition destroying around 229 commercial establishments, with its warplanes targeting 1,022 means of transportation, 29 chicken farms, 37 medicine warehouses, 95 food trucks, 21 fuel stations, and 13 tankers trucks.

The Eye of Humanity Center for Rights and Development announced then that the number of civilian casualties as a result of the direct bombing of the Saudi-led coalition during the 7 years of the aggression on Yemen amounted to 46,262 casualties, including 17,734 killed, among whom are 4,017 children, 2,434 women, and 11,283 men, while the number of wounded reached 28,528, including 4,586 children, 2,911 women, and 10,032 men.

Back in November, the United Nations reported that there were 343 civilians killed or injured as a result of landmine and unexploded ordnances during the six-month UN-backed ceasefire.

The United Nations constantly warns of the bad situation in Yemen. In its latest report, the organization showed that the number of child victims of the war on Yemen has risen to 11,000.

The Saudi coalition's war on Yemen has reflected on the country's health sector, with international organizations estimating that only half of the health facilities are working, which in turn suffer from a severe shortage of medicine, equipment, and medical staff.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) affirmed in December that the majority of the Yemeni people urgently need humanitarian aid, as a result of the conflict that has been going on in the Arab country for 8 years.

Through its Twitter account, the committee said that over 70% of people in Yemen today are in need of humanitarian aid, adding that "only 51% of health facilities are functioning" in Yemen, and "over 4.7 million women and children are acutely malnourished."

Yemen has been witnessing violent battles for about 8 years, due to the Saudi coalition's aggression against the country. The humanitarian situation remains difficult due to the ongoing blockade of ports imposed by the Saudi coalition forces, which limits the availability of fuel, food, and medicine.