US-Saudi Cluster Bombs Silent Killer of Yemeni Children, Women

On Mar 12, 2022

American, British and French cluster bombs are stalking the lives of thousands of Yemeni children.

Although the Executive Center for Mine Action in the capital, Sanaa, was able to destroy about 1.8 million cluster bombs from the remnants of the Saudi-Emirati aggression during the past years, the number of victims of these internationally prohibited bombs is rising on a daily basis, not only among civilians, but also among the many deminers who are constantly losing their lives.

In this context, official statistics indicate that this type of internaionally prohibtated bomb has killed and injured 3,810 civilians during the past years of the war, including women and children.

According to the statistics, the number of people killed by cluster bombs dropped by Saudi and Emirati warplanes near residential neighborhoods in the capital, Sana’a, and the governorates of Hajjah, Hodiedah, Al Jawf, Amran, Al Baidha and Marib, reached 1,019 civilians, including more than 115 children and 39 women, while the number of wounded reached 2,822 civilians, including 241 children and 76 women.

The Executive Center records on a daily basis the casualties, due to the large contamination of cluster bombs, and the failure to provide the requirements for marking areas contaminated with cluster bombs, and the remnants of war.

The US-Saudi aggression continues to target neighborhoods and populated areas and destroy the infrastructure of the country, in light of a suspicious international silence.

Saudi Arabia, backed by the United States and regional allies, launched the war on Yemen in March 2015, with the claim of bringing the government of former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi back to power.

The war has left hundreds of thousands of Yemenis dead, and displaced millions more. It has also destroyed Yemen’s infrastructure and spread famine and infectious diseases there.

The victims of cluster bombs have reached more than 25,000 civilians since the beginning of the US-Saudi aggression on Yemen in 2015. The Director of the Executive Center for Mine Action, Brigadier General Ali Safra, pointed out on Saturday that the support and resources allocated to field clearance do not reach the level of 2% of what is required to be cleaned.

The director of the Executive Center for Mine Action Brigadier Ali Safra stated that Hodeidah, Al-Baidha’a, Marib, Al-Jawf, Nihm and Sa’ada are the most infested areas for mines and bombs, in which the aggression used the most deadly and latest military technology in our country.

He explained that the Center is continuing to work to clear areas contaminated and affected by the bombs and mines of the US-Saudi aggression, pointing out that mines and remnants – especially cluster bombs – have become a national issue and a societal problem that must be disposed.

It is noteworthy that the Executive Center for Mine Action announced the discovery of 544 mines and cluster bombs left over from the aggression during the first week of January 2022.