Iranian proxies in the Middle East are haunted by a compilation of tough economic sanctions, strategic losses and international condemnation. The latest scandal involving Iran-backed groups was Human Rights Watch (HRW) condemning Houthi militias in Yemen for causing the death of at least 15 children.
“A Houthi-controlled warehouse that stored volatile material near homes and schools caught fire and detonated in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, on April 7, 2019, causing the deaths of at least 15 children,” HRW and Mwatana for Human Rights said in a report.
The massive blast injured more than 100 children and adults in the residential Sawan neighborhood. The groups could not determine the initial cause of the fire at the warehouse.
“They (Houthis) shell civilians, killing them, then go on to frame the Saudi-led Arab Coalition for the crimes and politicize innocents dying to serve personal agendas,” Yemen Deputy Minister for Youth Hamza Al Kamali told Asharq Al-Awsat in a phone call interview.
Mwatana and HRW--based on in-person interviews with witnesses, videos, and satellite imagery--determined that the contents of the warehouse had caught fire and exploded.
The groups were unable to identify the warehouse contents, but available information shows that they were flammable and explosive, posing a foreseeable danger to civilians living and going to school in the area.
Of the 15 children killed, Mwatana identified the names and ages of 10 girls and a boy who died at two schools, and 17 girls and 12 boys who were wounded, most of them 11 or 12 years old. At least 45 children were wounded, five critically, as well as at least 58 adults, based on interviews with people present at the two schools and at three private hospitals that received the dead and wounded. The actual death toll may be higher.
HRW and Mwatana were unable to conclusively determine what material was stored in the Sawan facility, but researchers observed widespread blast damage, and found the detonator of a hand grenade near the warehouse.
If Houthis stored material such as munitions or fuel for military purposes at the site, they would be in violation of the laws-of-war obligations to take all feasible precautions to avoid placing military targets within or near densely populated areas, and to protect civilians from the danger resulting from military operations.
“The Houthi decision to store volatile material near homes and schools despite the foreseeable risk to civilians led to the death and injury of dozens of schoolchildren and adults,” said Bill Van Esveld, senior children’s rights researcher at HRW.
“The Houthis should stop covering up what happened in Sawan and start doing more to protect civilians under their control,” he added.
