8th Aug 2015, 8 killed including 2 women 3 children when 8 homes in Radhma district of Yemen destroyed by Saudi led coalition airstrikes

On 8th August 2015, Saudi led coalition airstrikes destroyed 8 homes in the village of Shara'a in Radhma district in the governorate of Ibb, Yemen, killing 8 civilians including 2 women and 3 children, and wounding at least 2 more.

This is HRW's report of the incident:

On August 8, starting at 8:30 p.m., coalition aircraft dropped five bombs in the span of several minutes, destroying eight homes in the village of Shara`a, located in southern Ibb governorate’s Radhma district. The village has a population of about 800 people. The strikes killed eight civilians, including three women and three children, and left at least two civilians wounded. The al-Salam military base, which was occupied by Houthi forces, is located two kilometers (1.2 miles) from the village. Although the base was apparently not struck, 10 minutes before bombs hit Shara`a, two strikes hit the Al-Ahram event hall, located next to the base.

Human Rights Watch was not able to visit the village, but spoke to seven residents by telephone.

At 8:30 p.m. the first bomb hit the home of Mane`a al-Haddi, killing his mother, wife, sister and his sister’s two children, ages 6 and 7. The blast wounded him as well. He told Human Rights Watch:

"The first strike that hit the village targeted my house. I ran out to see what had happened, despite being injured. But two minutes later, my cousin’s house was hit by a second bomb. Then minutes later, two more fell, one on my house again, and a fourth on my cousin’s house again."

Another resident described the scene after the first strike:

"I never expected to see something similar, people running around and crying. It was horrific. We were trying to pull some of the people out the rubble when two minutes later another bomb fell and sent us running."

Minutes after the first strike, a bomb hit the home of Sheikh Muhammad al-Haddi, a retired army general, only a few meters from the first strike. His home was a gathering place for many in the village, who used his generator to charge their cellphones and laptops because it was the only house with reliable electricity. There were about 70 people at his house at the time of the strike, charging their devices, watching TV, playing cards, talking, and chewing qat, according to Mane`a al-Haddi, who was there at the time.

The attack severely damaged Sheikh al-Haddi’s house and left it uninhabitable. Two men who ran from the house after the initial blast on the home of Mane`a al-Haddi were killed.

The blast also destroyed the home of his neighbor, Nagi al-Masan, killing 3-year-old Saeed Waheb Tanbash, who was inside at the time.

About two minutes later, two more bombs hit at the same time, one on the southern corner of Mane`a al-Haddi’s home, and one by the entrance to Sheikh al-Haddi’s house. Two minutes later a fifth bomb fell on the neighboring home of Naji Saleh Hadash, a retired military officer.

Mane`a al-Haddi told Human Rights Watch, “It is the first time our village witnessed anything like this, the village is still in a state of terror. Even the dogs run away whenever a plane passes by now.”

Nasir Mohsen al-Thaibani, a 33-year-old local resident, told Human Rights Watch that at the time of the strikes, Houthi forces were at the al-Salam military base, but he said the base was not hit by any of the airstrikes.

All of the witnesses interviewed said that there were no Houthi or allied forces in the village or passing through at the time of the strikes.

https://www.hrw.org/node/283702


WARNING: the media below is graphic and distressing. It is placed here as evidence as war crimes to call for an independent investigation and to call on the international community to respect the Arms Treaty by stopping the supply of weapons to Saudi Arabic as they are clearly targeting civilians. 

The following news report from that time states 8 were killed and 14 injured in the incident.



List of the dead as reported by HRW
Location: Ibb
Date: 8/8/2015

Name	Gender	Age	Killed/Wounded
Sa’adah Ali al-Masan	Female	70	Killed
Yasmine Saleh Qaid al-Haddi	Female	28	Killed
Adhbah Sa’ad Abdullah al-Haddi	Male	38	Killed
Shehab Sinan Ahmed al-Haddi	Male	6	Killed
Inferaj Sinan Ahmed al-Haddi	Female	7	Killed
Muhammad Saleh Ahmed Sa’ad al-Haddi	Male	31	Killed
Muhammad Naji Masa’ad al-Saidi	Male	30	Killed
Said Wahib Tanbash	Male	3	Killed
Mane’e al-Haddi	Male	32	Wounded
Hamdi Ahmed Masa’ad al-Haddi	Male	31	Wounded

This is Mwatana's report of the incident:

www.mwatana.org/en/132016446

Ref: 15080801