gulfFirstAttack
Mwatana Human Rights Organization said that at least twenty-seven civilians were killed, including fifteen children, and another ten were injured in a Saudi-led airstrike that hit a residential compound in Al Noor neighborhood, Beni Hawat, east of Sanaa International Airport, north of the capital, Sanaa. The residential building, where eight families lived, was attacked at dawn on Thursday, 25 March 2015. Mwatana said the Saudi-led airstrike occurred around 3:00 AM, hitting the residential compound that was more than 2 km away from the closest military installation, al-Dailami Air Force base. "The circumstances of this atrocious attack in Al Noor neighborhood should be fully investigated," said Radhiya al-Mutawakil, Director of Mwatana. "All necessary precautions should be taken to guarantee that civilians are not targeted and are spared any harm that might affect them due to the ongoing airstrikes," she continued.
Five local residents who witnessed the attack confirmed to Mwatana that an explosion rocked the neighborhood between 2:30 and 3:00 AM on Thursday. "I was in the house [with my wife and five children], when we heard a huge explosion. It was like Judgment Day," said Hassan al-Sharafi. "Our windows broke, but none of us were harmed, but many of my neighbors were killed in the strike. We tried to save [the father and mother] from the Jarmouzi family, but they were already dead," he told Mwatana. The witnesses, who were interviewed separately, said that there were no clashes or presence of armed forces in the area prior to the attack.
Sources in the Kuwait and Thawra hospitals told Mwatana that they had received twelve bodies; the rest were delivered as body parts. Mwatana Human Rights Organization condemned this heinous attack and called on the military command to strictly abide by the rules of International Humanitarian Law, which protects civilians in conflict areas, including articles that emphasize not taking the decision to attack targets that might result in casualties among civilians, and taking all precautions to avoid such casualties in densely populated areas. Mwatana would like to highlight this protocol since most of the military installations of the Yemeni Army that are being targeted are inside or close to civilian neighborhoods.
