12th July, air stikes on Madinat al-Ummal, Sawan, Sanaa, yemen, killing 23 civilians including 7 women and 14 children.

On Sunday evening of 12th July until dawn of 13th July 2014, Saudi led coalition air strikes targeted the workers' town of Madinat al-Ummal in Sanaa. The al-Ummal area is located in the Sawan neighborhood of the capital and is home to a Yemeni marginalised community called the Mohamasheen. The strikes resulted in the death of at least 23 civilians, including 7 women and 14 children, and injuring at least 31.

These videos document the Saudi led coalition air strikes on Yemen. WARNING, they are EXTREMELY GRAPHIC and DISTRESSING. They are put here as evidence to support the call for an independent enquiry into war crimes and to call on the West to stop supplying arms to Saudi Arabia.



A resident from a nearby neighbourhood who heard the bombardment himself told Jamila "We're still wondering why they hit Madinat al Ummal (workers blocks)  they are very, very poor people.. always working and begging in the streets. The government built those houses for them." 

This is HRW's report of the incident:

At about 12:30 a.m. on July 12, an airstrike killed 23 people, all from the same family, including seven women and 14 children, from the ages of 2 months to 16 years, in Sanaa’s residential neighborhood of Sawan. The strike also wounded 31 people. The area is populated by the marginalized muhamashee people part of Yemen’s minority group, about 11 percent of the population, that suffers social segregation and discrimination, including in accessing public education and employment.

Human Rights Watch examined the site on July 20. The blast destroyed 10 small, single-story houses and damaged another 50. Remnants of the control fins of a laser-guided bomb were photographed by Amnesty International at the site of the attack. We were unable to discern whether the bomb was deliberately guided to the impact point or whether there was a malfunction of the guidance system or other mistake that caused the bomb to strike this spot.

Residents told Human Rights Watch that an airstrike hit the External Medical Clinic, a military medical facility located next to the Military Engineers’ Compound, about 500 meters away, about five minutes after the strike on the homes. Human Rights sought access to the compound, but armed guards denied us entry, saying they would need to get authorization.

Majid al-Jamal, 30, whose relatives were killed in the blast, said he was sleeping at the time the bomb struck:

"I didn’t hear the strike itself, or the plane. But I awoke to the sound of bricks being smashed against the side of my home. I jumped out of bed and rushed outside and saw burned bodies, but I could not do anything to help."

Yumna Obayth, 35, a mother of 10 whose house was damaged in the strike, said:

 "Why, I ask, why would they bomb us? We have no guns, no food, nothing. We are poor. They brought down the house over the heads of my children. Now we are living outside in the street, what can I do?"

The Military Engineers’ Compound was a legitimate military target. The nearby military medical facility was not a valid military target—medical facilities, including those serving military personnel, may not be targeted unless they are being used to commit hostile acts and a warning has been given. The proximity of the hospital to the engineer’s compound unnecessarily placed it at risk of being damaged in an attack on the compound.

https://www.hrw.org/node/283702

List of the dead as reported by HRW:

Location: Sawan, Sanaa
Date: 7/12/2015

Name	Gender	Age	Killed/Wounded
Shuba Khamis al-Jamal	Female	60	Killed
Musa Hassan Rajih al-Jamal	Male	35	Killed
Asad Musa Hassan Rajih al-Jamal	Male	16	Killed
Alaallah Hassan Ahmed Hals al-Jamal	Female	70	Killed
Hassan Musa Hassan Rajih al-Jamal	Male	14	Killed
Nasir Musa Hassan Rajih al-Jamal	Male	10	Killed
Ashuaq Musa Hassan Rajih al-Jamal	Female	8	Killed
Raziki Musa Hassan Rajih al-Jamal	Female	2 months	Killed
Mariam Muhsin al-Awdi	Female	20	Killed
Dhaifallah Said Khamis al-Jamal	Male	4	Killed
Kusi Said Khamis al-Jamal	Male	3	Killed
Odai Said Khamis al-Jamal	Male	2	Killed
Amora Ali Khamis al-Jamal	Female	22	Killed
Mutasim Darwish Hassan Rajih al-Jamal	Male	2	Killed
Musa Darwish Hassan Rajih al-Jamal	Male	4	Killed
Fuad Darwish Hassan Rajih al-Jamal	Male	2 months	Killed
Afnan Salim Hassan Rajih al-Jamal	Female	12	Killed
Kefaya Amar Khamis Sa`ad al-Jamal	Female	6	Killed
Yahya Saad al-Jamal	Male	18	Killed
Samara Muhammad Khamis Sa`ad al-Jamal	Female	20	Killed
Shuia Musa Hassan Rajih al-Jamal	Female	2	Killed
Mariam Darwish Gurina	Female	30	Killed
Sahlah Abdullah Hassan al-Jamal	Female	30	Killed

*The list of wounded is available in hard copy with Human Rights Watch

This is Mwatana's report of the incident:

http://mwatana.org/sites/default/files/pdf/Blind%20Airstrikes%20Report.pdf

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