According to Human Rights Watch: "Coalition aircraft struck the Amran Cement Factory in three separate attacks on July 12, 2015, February 3, 2016, and February 15, 2016.... On February 15 at about 4 a.m., another strike hit the area, landing on the factory’s cement crusher at the mouth of the factory’s quarry, at the foot of alRaha Mountain. Muhammad Saleh Raiman, 40, one of the factory’s guards, had been guarding the area where the strike took place. He said he suffered only minor injuries because he moved away when he heard the sound of aircraft overhead. Two fellow guards, Nabil Ali Muhammad al-Raimani, 28, and Hatem Yahia Hatem, 40, were more seriously wounded. At about 5 p.m. the same day, coalition aircraft dropped cluster munitions on al-Raha mountain, including into the factory’s quarry and next to the cement crusher. The next morning, cement factory workers Kamal Hussein Qaid, 50, and Bandar Ahmed Daoud, 33, headed up to inspect damage at the cement factory’s quarry, about one kilometer from the main factory building and connected to al-Jumaima Mountain. On the way to the quarry they found and collected remnants of munitions that were lying in the middle of the road. When Human Rights Watch researchers visited the factory on March 25, 2016 they photographed these remnants, which were marked as the bomb casing of a CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapon with a manufacture date of July 2012 and two expended BLU-108 canisters. Neither canister had its “skeet,” or submunition, attached. However, the cement factory workers told Human Rights Watch researchers that they also saw three more BLU108 canisters with their “skeet” or submunitions still attached lying on the quarry tracks along with a parachute. The workers subsequently provided Human Rights Watch with photos that they took of the remnants lying in place where they landed, that showed the unexploded submunitions. Researchers also found remnants of at least one Mk-82 (500-lb general purpose bomb) with JDAM satellite guidance at the factory. Workers collected these remnants from previous strikes, a factory manager said. Several staff members at the factory said that there are two to three small guards’ huts belonging to the factory on the road leading from the main factory building up to the quarry, about one kilometer from the factory. At some point after the beginning of the war, two or three Houthi fighters began occupying these huts, they said. A military base is located on al-Jumaima mountain, at least two kilometers from the quarry. The facility previously housed the 310th Armored Brigade, which was led by Brig. Gen. Hamid Al-Qushaibi, who was killed in fighting against the Houthis in 2014. Local residents told Human Rights Watch that since then, pro-Houthi forces have been stationed at the base, but did not have any details on numbers of forces or any types of weapons being housed there. The attacks on the government-owned Amran cement factory’s main facility were unlawful unless the factory was being used to produce or store goods intended for military use. The Houthi fighters stationed at the quarry were lawful military targets –but attacking them had to be proportionate to expected civilian loss. The use of cluster munitions on the mountain, in close proximity to al-Darb village, constitutes an unlawful attack. In May 2016, the factory’s management decided to reopen the facility so that they could pay the workers’ salaries. “We take this decision (despite [the] risk) after long suffering of factory manpower and their families, this is the only way to cover their incomes,” a factory manager wrote to Human Rights Watch. On May 4, the day they reopened, coalition aircraft flew overhead frightening the workers, who fled. The plant remained closed at the time of publication. The coalition should investigate airstrikes on the Amran cement factory, cement crusher, and quarry and demonstrate that the factory was being for military purposes. If it was not the coalition should compensate families of civilians killed or injured in the attack." ^[+]