Yemen: Scores killed in missile attack on military camp
January 19, 2020
At least 79 Yemeni soldiers were killed in the strike outside the capital of Sanaa in Yemen. The attack reportedly targeted a mosque located inside a military training camp during evening prayers.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/J. Gambrell
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A missile attack on a Yemeni military training camp in the oil-rich province of Marib killed scores of soldiers, sparking outrage from Yemen's internationally recognized government on Sunday.
Saudi state television reported that at least 79 military personnel were killed in the strike on Saturday evening at the camp — which is located around 170 kilometers (105 miles) east of the capital Sanaa.
Yemen's Foreign Ministry estimated the death toll reached at least 100, with at least 81 wounded.
The ballistic missile strike hit a mosque located inside the camp during evening prayers on Saturday.
Yemen's internationally recognized government condemned the strike as a "cowardly and terrorist" attack, according to the official Saba news agency.
Yemeni President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi told the military to be on high alert and ready for battle. He blamed the Iran-backed Houthi rebels for the deadly attack.
Hadi described the assault as an act of "blatant aggression'' that showed Houthis' "lawlessness'' and "unwillingness'' to make peace, according to Saudi Arabia's state-run news agency. The Yemeni president said the Houthis were acting as "a cheap Iranian tool in the region.''
Houthi rebels defended their deadly strike as an embarrassing defeat for the Yemeni government. "It appears that (coalition forces) have not learned the lessons of five years of fierce military confrontation,'' said Sharaf Lokman, a Houthi official. "Coalition forces have failed politically, militarily and morally.''
Yemen has struggled to cope with crises prompted by its atrocious civil war, including catastrophic hunger and devastating cholera outbreaks. DW examines the conflict and how it affects the country's civilian population.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
War: The 'root cause' of Yemen's disasters
The UN has identified conflict as the "root cause" of Yemen's crises. Tens of thousands of people have been killed since the war erupted in 2014, when Shiite Houthi rebels launched a campaign to capture the capital, Sanaa. In March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition launched a deadly campaign against the rebels, one that has been widely criticized by human rights groups for its high civilian death toll.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
Fighting keeps food from the famished
The conflict has prevented humanitarian aid from reaching large parts of the civilian population, resulting in more than two-thirds of the country's 28 million people being classified as "food insecure." Nearly 3 million children and pregnant or nursing women are acutely malnourished, according to the UN World Food Program.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
Displacement: Converging crises
More than 3 million people have been displaced by conflict, including marginalized communities such as the "Muhammasheen," a minority tribe that originally migrated from Africa. Despite the civil war, many flee conflict in Somalia and head to Yemen, marking the convergence of two major migration crises in the Middle East nation. Yemen hosts around 250,000 Somali refugees, according to UNHCR.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
Cholera: A deadly epidemic
The number of suspected cholera cases has exceeded more than 2 million and least 3,700 people have died from the waterborne bacterial infection in Yemen since October 2019, said the WHO. Although cholera can be easily treated, it can kill within hours when untreated.
Image: Reuters/K. Abdullah
Unsuspecting victims of the'war on terror'
In Yemen, violence goes beyond civil conflict: It is considered a strategic front in the war on terrorism. The country serves as the operational base for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, dubbed the "most dangerous" terrorist group before the rise of the "Islamic State." The US routinely uses drones to target al-Qaida leadership. However, civilians have often been killed in the operations.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Y. Arhab
Children's fate: Future marred by tragedy
In a country paralyzed by conflict, children are one of the most at-risk groups in Yemen. More than 12 million children require humanitarian aid, according to the UN humanitarian coordination agency. The country's education system is "on the brink of collapse," while children are dying of "preventable causes like malnutrition, diarrhea and respiratory tract infections," according to the agency.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
Peace: An elusive future
Despite several attempts at UN-backed peace talks, the conflict continues to rage on. Saudi Arabia has vowed to continue supporting the internationally recognized government of Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. On the other hand, Houthi rebels have demanded the formation of a unity government in order to move forward on a political solution. A peace deal, however, remains elusive.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
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Abdu Abdullah Magli, a spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces, vowed to retaliate following the Saturday attack.
"This attack will be answered harshly,'' Magli warned in a televised statement.
Coalition forces said they launched "massive assaults'' on Houthi targets northeast of the capital, killing and wounding dozens of Houthi fighters.
Fragile de-escalation
The United Nations envoy to Yemen, meanwhile, delivered a stern warning about the attack and the recent spike in violence.
"The hard-earned progress that Yemen has made on de-escalation is very fragile. Such actions can derail this progress,'' warned Martin Griffiths.
Saturday's attack came after government forces, which are backed by a Saudi-led coalition, launched a large-scale operation against the Houthis in a region north of Sanaa.
The conflict in Yemen has killed tens of thousands of people since 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its allies intervened to back Hadi's government against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
The conflict has displaced millions of people, pushed the country to the brink of famine and created what the United Nations says is the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
