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Incident on 4 June 2015 [+] Print this page

Location: al-Maghsal, al-Ja'Mala, Sa'dah Governorate [+]

Country: Yemen [+]

Violation types: Violation of International Law [+]

Location


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This incident took place in al-Maghsal, al-Ja'Mala, Sa'dah Governorate, Yemen [+]

Description


According to Amnesty International: "VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW [...] Amnesty International investigated 13 airstrikes which took place during May, June and July in and around Sa’da governorate. These strikes killed some 100 civilians - including 59 children and 22 women – and injured a further 56, including 18 children. Amnesty International found that strikes which killed and injured civilians and destroyed civilian property and infrastructure were frequently disproportionate or indiscriminate and in some instances they appeared to have directly targeted civilians or civilian objects. Such attacks violate international humanitarian law and constitute war crimes. [...] The most used air-launched explosive weapons in the geographical area covered in this report are US-designed and US-produced general purpose bombs from the Mark/MK 80 series, remains of which have been found by Amnesty International researchers at the locations of Saudi Arabia-led coalition airstrikes, notably: MK 82 (also known as BLU-111/B) 500 lbs (about 225 kg), containing some 192 lbs (about 87 kg) of Tritonal High Explosive. MK 83 (also known as BLU-110B/B) 1,000 lbs (about 453 kg) containing some 445 lbs (about 201 kg) of Tritonal High Explosive. MK 84 (also known as BLU-117) 2,000 lbs (about 907 kg) containing some 945 lbs (about 428 kg) of Tritonal High Explosive, the largest of the MK 80 series bombs. Two types of air-launched cluster bombs, internationally banned, have also been used, remains of which have been found by Amnesty International researchers at the locations of Saudi Arabia-led coalition airstrikes: US-produced CBU-87 bombs, each carrying 202 BLU-97 cluster submunitions. US-produced CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapon, each carrying 10 Blue-108 Sensor Fuzed submunitions canisters, each containing four submunitions. [...] The al-Shayba family lived in a tight-knit cluster of small houses in al-Maghsal area in Majz, north-west of Sa’da city. On the morning of 4 June, four consecutive airstrikes ripped through the homes. 11 members of the al-Shayba family, eight children and three women, were killed, while a woman and two children and were injured. Fragments of MK 80 bombs, which have been systematically used in coalition forces’ air bombardments, were found in the ruins of the house by Amnesty International. As with many other coalition airstrikes, there was no evident military objective at or near the site of the multiple strikes, whose victims were all children and women. Ali Qassem Salah al-Shayba, an animal trader and father of four, told Amnesty International: “I was by the river on my way back home when our homes were bombed, at about 10am. It was a massacre; what can I tell you? A massacre. I lost my son Hassan, four, and my daughter Taysir, 12; my mother, Munawwar, my sister Aziza and her daughter Salsabil, six; my brother’s son and daughter, Mohammed and Yousra, aged nine and 16, and my cousin Shama’a and her three daughters, Altaf, Zahra & Batul, aged one, three, and six. My wife and my other four-year-old son were injured, along with my 16-year-old niece.” Surviving family members said that the body of three-year old Zahra had not yet been recovered when Amnesty International visited the site four weeks after the attack. “A family of 20 lived here, my brothers and I and our families. It was a two-storey house. There were only women and children. And we don’t have weapons, we are livestock traders. We have nothing to do with the war. I had 20 cows and over 50 goats. But they [coalition forces] destroyed it all,” said Ali Qassem Salah al-Shayba, pointing to the carcasses of the dead animals still strewn around the house.” [+]

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
07 October 2015 Amnesty International BOMBS FALL FROM THE SKY DAY AND NIGHT': CIVILIANS UNDER FIRE IN NORTHERN YEMEN 21 January 2021