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Incident on 11 June 2015 [+] Print this page

Location: Shatt al Nofaan area, Sa'dah Governorate [+]

Country: Yemen [+]

Violation types: Aerial attack may tantamount to war crimes in accordance with the International Humanitarian Law [+]

Location


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This incident took place in Shatt al Nofaan area, Sa'dah Governorate, Yemen [+]

Description


According to Mwatana for Human Rights: "Despite the statements issued by the Spokesman of the Arab Allied Forces –Brigadier General Ahmed Aseeri- that all precautionary measures were taken to avoid civilian casualties and to ensure the safety and security of all Yemenis, a sizable number of the coalition’ aerial attacks did target civilian areas and resulted in killing and injury of civilian, damage of homes, civil institutions and infrastructures. These violations may tantamount to war crimes in accordance with the International Humanitarian Law. [...] An air strike by the Saudi-led Arab coalition planes on 11 June 2015 killed three civilians as they were preparing to irrigate their fields in Shatt al Nofaan area, in Haydan district 80 kilometers west of Sada’a city and It’s a rugged mountainous area which is about 10 kilometers away from Maran Mountain. Hussein Tawey, a 42-year-old teacher, lost his cousin and the son of another cousin in the attack. He recounted to Mwatana the circumstances leading up to the incident saying that his cousin Khaled Tawey, 37 years old and one of the victims, went to market in the morning to buy meat. Then Khaled passed by his brother’s house to eat breakfast and try convince him to fill up water tank from the water for irrigating vegetables planted and particularly sold in the month of Ramadan. Hussein said: “when Khaled’s brother refused to go with him because he was worried of the coalition jets hovering over the area that day, Khaled took his nephew Naeb Tawey to have breakfast then to go to the well along with a third person. When they arrived there, they got out of the car except for Khaled who was trying to position the car as close as possible to the water well. That’s when the coalition planes attacked them with a bomb. Nothing was left of Khalid’s body except his legs and his head when they found his remains the next day of the incident. Whereas for his nephew, they only found his hand and they were able to identify him from the ring that he was wearing. A third person was killed with them that day.” Tawey went on: “none of them is Houthi, but air strikes in Haydan district do not differentiate between Houthis or non-Houthis. They even hit agricultural equipment.” Rawda Hussein, 33 years old, who’s a distant relative to Khaled and Naeb, also believes that coalition forces planes do not differentiate between military and civilian objectives in the area: “The plane came to bomb poor Khaled. He didn’t belong to Al-Houthi group, he didn’t even like mixing with them. The coalition orphaned his children, and widowed his wife and humiliated their lives. He didn’t do anything except plant garlic, horseradish, and Ramadan vegetables in his farm, as anyone in this region does. That’s when the plane bombed them and tore them apart. What did they do to be bombed? They killed them in vein while they were on their way, not harming anyone. They are belonging to the Houthis, or to Saudi Arabia. Khaled’s wife is sick, keeping to herself the pain of her oppression and anguish.”" [+]

Perpetrator units

Name Other Names Classification
Operation Restoring Hope [+] Arab Coalition
Arab Coalition Forces
Arab Coalition to restore legitimacy in Yemen
Gulf Arab coalition
Hope Restoration Operation
Joint Forces
Operation Renewal of Hope
Operation Storm of Resolve
Saudi-led Arab Coalition
Saudi-led Coalition
coalition forces
operations Renewal of Hope
Air Force [+]
Army [+]
Joint Operation [+]
Military [+]
Navy [+]

Sources

List of all sources used to evidence the data in this record Click the "+" symbol next to every data point in the record to see the sources used for that data point.

Publication Date Publisher Publication Title Access Date Archive Link
15 December 2015 Mwatana for Human Rights Blind Air Strikes 09 October 2019