This week, approximately seventy migrants hailing from Africa lost their lives due to an early-morning airstrike that devastated a detention facility in the northern part of Yemen. The onus for said attack was swiftly placed on the United States by Yemeni authorities. Despite not affirming its involvement, an official from the United States hinted at awareness of the incident
At the site of the attack, bomb disposal experts discovered traces of a GBU-39 precision-guided bomb, which is produced by the U.S. The horrors of the aftermath were showcased in a validated video, revealing mutilated bodies and survivors entrapped in the rubble, alongside the grisly sight of blood-soaked limbs in the damaged area.
Sanaa, an Ethiopian advocate living in the capital of Yemen, reported that the center was subjected to no less than three consecutive strikes. Subsequent attacks had hit both survivors attempting to escape the chaos and the rescue personnel arriving at the scene. Moreover, another strike occurred in proximity to the facility.
The Republican Hospital Authority in Sa’ada was overwhelmed by the devastation, as reported by its chief, Ismail Al-Warfi. One strike hit the detention center’s access point, causing a delay in the rescue operations and resulting in the destruction of the facility’s only ambulance. This compounded the situation, as it rendered it catastrophic.
Expressing his critique of the international humanitarian response to the catastrophic situation, Al-Warfi judged it to be insufficient. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was the sole responsive entity, providing a rented refrigerator for the morgue purposes and a limited supply of medications. The remaining organizations demonstrated no reaction.
Upon examining fragments of the munition used, Trevor Ball – a former explosive ordnance disposal expert from the U.S. Army – concluded that multiple deployments of the GBU-39 bomb had taken place during the incident. His analysis led him to believe that the facility was deliberately targeted.
Ball put forward that similar bombs had been previously used by Israel within Yemen. However, this incident signifies the first documented usage of such bombs by the United States in the past twelve months. The Horn of Africa’s war and climate crisis victims regard Yemen as a crucial juncture on their way to Saudi Arabia in the hopes of finding employment, despite the perilous conditions they face during their journey and upon arrival.
For instance, they are susceptible to being detained, subjected to maltreatment, and potentially, even losing their lives. Based on US Central Command acknowledgments, the U.S. has conducted more than 1,000 strikes in Yemen, dating back to an operation launched in the middle of March.
Corresponding with these strikes, the Yemen Data Project has documented at least 158 civilian fatalities directly related to this campaign. Underscoring these concerns, it has reported thirteen incidents of civilian infrastructure coming under attack between the first and twenty-second of April.
This isn’t the inaugural time the detention center in Sa’ada was besieged. In the previous year, a similar strike had been carried out by a coalition led by Saudi Arabia, which led to analogous gruesome scenes at the site – decapitated bodies and detached limbs strewn across the entire area.
This pattern of attacks causing civilian casualties is causing concern among human rights advocates. Niku Jafarnia, a researcher focused on Yemen at Human Rights Watch, hints at an emerging trend of disregard towards civilian lives in conflict areas.
She points out that the killing of civilians – both those working at a port and migrants in a detention center, within a span of just two weeks – along with scores of other strikes causing civilian deaths, is hardly an isolated incident.
Instead, Jafarnia suggests that this displays a pattern, one that seems to indicate a substantial reduction in concern for civilian lives from the controlling administration in comparison to the practices of its predecessors.
Each of these incidents, be they at ports or detention centers, adds another brutal chapter to an already heartbreaking narrative of human suffering and loss. They signify a disturbing escalation of violence and a seemingly growing disregard for civilian life and international humanitarian norms.
Through these unfolding events, it’s made abundantly clear that the importance of examining, understanding, and pushing back against these developments is more critical than ever before. The international community, human rights advocates, and the political powers involved must take note of these alarming patterns, and earnestly work towards mitigating them.
The post US Accused as Airstrike Kills 70 Migrants in Yemen appeared first on Real News Now.
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