"Al Bayda between killing and siege" .. A human rights report highlights the crimes of the Houthis in the governorate since 2015

A human rights report revealed thousands of crimes and violations committed by the terrorist Houthi militia against the people of Al Bayda Governorate (central Yemen) since the beginning of 2015.

The Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms said in a report issued today, Friday, entitled “Al Bayda Governorate between killing and siege,” that it recorded (7742) incidents of violations and human and material damage to which civilians and public and private property were exposed in Al Bayda Governorate during the period from January 1, 2015 until June 30 of this year.

The organization stated in its report, "For more than nine years, Al Bayda Governorate has been living under the burden of war and siege imposed on it by the Iranian-backed terrorist Houthi militia, as Houthi violations against the city and its citizens continue, including shelling, sniping, booby-trapping, kidnapping, confiscation and looting, thus doubling its extremely painful humanitarian suffering, without any regard for international laws, covenants and human rights."

She added that the Houthi militia war and its siege imposed on Al Bayda Governorate "left a humanitarian catastrophe and caused numerous tragedies and crises in various aspects and areas of life, as the militia claimed the lives of hundreds of civilians, disrupted the wheel of economic and social life, and turned life into continuous daily suffering in light of a severe shortage of basic needs, and created crises in water, education, electricity and transportation, from which nearly half a million citizens in the governorate suffer."

She continued, "Since the beginning of its war on Al Bayda, the Houthi militia has failed to overthrow it militarily despite the force it armed itself with to storm the city, so it resorted to practicing the most heinous violations against it, as part of its failed efforts to subjugate and punish it. Among these attempts were killing and liquidating sheikhs, raiding the Khabza area and blowing up its homes, then besieging the village of Al Sarar and other failed Houthi attempts."

According to the report, the Houthi violations included the killing of (842) civilians, including children and women, distributed between (61) cases of killing as a result of direct sniping, (285) cases of killing as a result of direct gunfire, (198) cases of killing as a result of random shelling, (214) cases of killing as a result of landmines, (41) cases of killing as a result of execution as a result of physical liquidation, (13) cases of killing as a result of house bombings, (18) cases of killing as a result of assassinations carried out by the Houthi militias, (14) cases of killing as a result of torture leading to death, (8 cases of killing by running over with crews and vehicles belonging to the Houthi militias, and (17) cases of killing as a result of other incidents.

The report monitored the injury of (931) people, distributed between (93) cases of injury as a result of direct sniping, (271) cases of injury as a result of direct gunfire, (163) cases of injury as a result of random shelling, (309) cases of injury as a result of mines, which caused some of them to suffer permanent disability or complete paralysis of movement or madness and psychological state, (34) cases of injury as a result of the bombing of houses, (14) cases of injury as a result of torture that led to injury and permanent disability, (16) cases of injury as a result of being run over by crews and vehicles belonging to the Houthi militias, and (29) cases of injury as a result of other accidents.

The report included (2780) cases of arrest and kidnapping, (366) cases of enforced disappearance, and (132) cases of psychological and physical torture.

The report included violations against private and public civilian properties and objects, as the field team of the Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms recorded (2691) violations against public and private civilian objects, distributed between (714) cases of partial damage to citizens’ homes as a result of indiscriminate shelling, (346) cases of total damage to citizens’ homes as a result of direct shelling, (171) cases of looting of civilian vehicles, (103) cases of house bombing, (12) cases of demolition and destruction of public service facilities, (12) cases of damage to public health service facilities, (48) cases of damage to mosques and places of worship, (52) cases of damage to public water tanks, (17) cases of destruction of water wells, (62) cases of damage to citizens’ farms, (178) cases of damage to private shops, (114) cases of damage and destruction to private vehicles, (38) cases of storming a government facility, and (7) cases of Storming party headquarters, (476) cases of storming, raiding and searching homes, (312) cases of looting of citizens’ private belongings, (23) cases of closing private schools, and (54) cases of closing public schools.

The report stated that the siege imposed by the Houthi militias on some cities and villages in Al Bayda Governorate, and the Houthi militias’ use of excessive force and targeting of villages and isolated areas with random projectiles such as Katyusha rockets, artillery, mortar shells and drones, led to the displacement of 80,649 families in 16 districts of the governorate.

The report indicated that the Houthi militia's siege of Al Bayda Governorate has caused a deterioration in the humanitarian situation and severe suffering for the population, as the population faces severe shortages of food, water and medicine, in addition to the interruption of basic services such as electricity and water. The population also suffers from ongoing human rights violations, including indiscriminate shelling, attacks on civilians, detention, displacement and destruction of the civilian infrastructure.

The Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms called on the international community, the United Nations and its Secretary-General, the UN envoy to Yemen, and the international community to assume their legal and moral responsibilities to protect civilians and stop the militia from committing these crimes and violations against civilians in Al Bayda Governorate, in accordance with United Nations documents and the Geneva Conventions.

It also called for an urgent and transparent investigation into all cases of human rights violations and for all those involved to be held accountable politically, legally and criminally in accordance with international charters and agreements and the rules of international humanitarian law.