Even Water Wells Are Bombed by Saudi-Led Coalition Amid Starving Yemenis

Malak Ali

In a blatant challenge to the United Nations and the UN Security Council, the Saudi-led Arab coalition, backed by the United States and Britain, destroyed on Thursday 10 wells on the island of Kamaran in the province of Hodeidah in western Yemen.

According to local sources, coalition fighters bombed the island of Kamaran with a series of raids, causing the destruction of a water well and a reservoir of rainwater on the island.

A well in Kamaran Island targeted by the Saudi-led coalition. YemenExtra.

For his part, the director of The Water Office in Hodeidah, Abdulrahman Ishaq, said in a statement to “Yemen Extra” that the air raids of the coalition warplanes destroyed 10 wells of drinking water, which is the only source of water inside the island.

He pointed out that the coalition seeks to destroy the main sources of potable water inside Kamaran Island, with the aim of displacing the population and forcing them to leave to facilitate the process of occupation.

The National Authority for the Management and Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs of the United States has also condemned the coalition’s efforts to target water projects, most recently targeting water wells in Al-Aql, a center of drinking water wells that feed 800 residents of the island of Kamaran.

The National Commission confirmed that the coalition raids targeted a square where ((6 wells)) were completely destroyed as well as the reservoir of rainwater, in addition to the demolition of ((8 wells)) outside the square south of the reservoir while the remaining  (4 wells) were stumbled by the raids.

A well in Kamaran Island targeted by the Saudi-led coalition. YemenExtra.

The direct targeting of the vital and life-saving drinking water projects on the island is a violation of international humanitarian law, which prohibits attacks on civilian facilities that the population can not dispense in order to survive.

In conjunction with the destruction of drinking water wells on Kamaran Island, three fishing boats were hit by a series of hostile raids by the US-backed Saudi warplanes off the Yemeni island of Akban in the province of Hodeidah, causing the loss of 19 fishermen and the killing and wounding of others.

Meanwhile, these two incidents occurred a few days after the United Nations panel of experts announced the results of its investigations into the abuses and crimes committed by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen for almost four years.

The report of the Panel of Experts confirmed that the air raids of the coalition targeted civilian boats belonging to Yemeni fishermen off the shores of Hodeidah, killing dozens and leaving others as disappeared. Moreover, 32 Somali refugees also got killed in a raid waged by the coalition.

Wells in Kamaran Island targeted by the Saudi-led coalition. YemenExtra.

The report pointed out that Saudi forces routinely detain Yemeni fishermen, where 148 fishermen were arrested by Saudi-led coalition and transferred to Saudi Arabia detention facilities, isolating them from the outside world.

The report also said that the Saudi-led coalition imposed strict maritime and air restrictions that had a devastating effect on the civilian population and on commercial shipping, causing an increase in the cost of delivering these materials to the markets. It does not end here as the coalition also effectively closed Sana’a International Airport to civil aviation flights, preventing Yemenis from accessing health care abroad.

The expert report reviewed 11 incidents in which air raids targeted popular markets, one of which was a terrible incident that killed 107 civilians, including 25 children, during coalition raids targeting “Al-Khamees Market”.

A well in Kamaran Island targeted by the Saudi-led coalition. YemenExtra.

According to the report, a number of air strikes damaged MSF facilities, the latest of which was an air raid that hit a new cholera treatment center in the district of Abes in the province of Hajjah.

A number of civilian gatherings were also targeted at funerals and weddings, including raids that bombed Al-Kobra Hall in Sana’a during the funeral of the father of a senior official.