Iran-backed gunmen raid hospital as civilians face imminent onslaught in Yemen

12

The world’s largest state sponsor of terror is at it again. The Houthis are backed by Iran.

Amnesty International makes no mention of Iran (of course). And it’s Houthi, not Huthi.

Huthi gunmen raid hospital as Hodeidah’s civilians face imminent onslaught in Yemen

Amnesty International, November 7, 2018:

Story continues below advertisement

Civilians in Yemen’s western port city of Hodeidah will pay a terrible price amid the battle engulfing their city unless warring parties act immediately to protect them from the fighting, Amnesty International warned today.  

In an extremely worrying development, Huthi fighters arrived at a hospital in Hodeidah and recently took up positions atop a hospital roof, placing numerous civilians inside the building in grave danger.  

“This is a stomach-churning development that could have devastating consequences for the hospital’s medical workers and dozens of civilian patients, including many children, being treated there,” said Samah Hadid, Amnesty International’s Middle East Director of Campaigns. 

“The presence of Huthi fighters on the hospital’s roof violates international humanitarian law, but this violation does not make the hospital and the patients and medical staff lawful targets for Saudi Arabia and UAE-led Coalition air strikes. The hospital is full of injured civilians who have nowhere else to go for lifesaving medical care. Anyone attacking a hospital under these conditions risks responsibility for war crimes.”  

This deliberate militarization of hospitals comes in the context of a war in which the Saudi Arabia and UAE-led Coalition’s relentless and devastating use of air strikes in civilian areas.  

Blurring the lines  

Local contacts in Hodeidah told Amnesty International that groups of armed Huthi fighters travelling in Toyota pick-up trucks arrived at the hospital in the city’s 22 May district on Friday November 2. They commandeered a section of the hospital before placing a team of fighters on the roof. Hospital staff confirmed that armed fighters have been coming and going ever since.  

The hospital is close to Street 50 in the eastern part of Hodeidah. There has been fierce fighting in the area since the weekend, endangering the hospital and all those inside.  

“The laws of war demand that hospitals are not used for military purposes. Placing gunmen on a hospital roof blurs lines which should never be blurred. Hospitals are not a target: the sick and injured have an absolute right to safe medical treatment at all times, and medical workers must be allowed to carry out their lifesaving work,” said Samah Hadid.   

Saudi Arabia and UAE-led Coalition air strikes  

Amnesty International has documented a series of air strikes carried out by the Saudi Arabia and UAE-led Coalition in the lead-up to the recent escalation in fighting.  

The organization interviewed six witnesses and survivors after a Coalition air strike on October 13 hit Jabal Ras in Hodeidah governorate. The strike appeared to target a Huthi checkpoint at a time when civilians were passing in at least two buses and other vehicles. According to those eyewitnesses, the strike may have injured one of the individuals manning the checkpoint, but it also killed at least 11 civilians, with some reports placing the number as high as 17.  

One witness told Amnesty International: “We were headed out en route for Umra [pilgrimage], then we were stopped at a checkpoint. He [the person manning the checkpoint] asked for our ID cards, and within a few minutes the strike happened. It landed between our bus and another one next to us. All of a sudden, we were in the middle of an explosion. There were victims everywhere, including my mother who died and one of our neighbors. Some lost their hands, others lost their legs. Everybody was injured.” 

According to the witnesses, there were no military vehicles or soldiers in the vicinity at the time – just the checkpoint with a single individual, around 10 meters away from the buses. Targeting a checkpoint in such circumstances would be a disproportionate or otherwise indiscriminate attack, violating international humanitarian law.  

Amnesty International has also documented other Coalition air strikes in and around Hodeidah, including one that killed as many as 21 civilians on October 24 when it hit a vegetable market in Beit al Faqih, Hodeidah governorate. 

Huthi forces, meanwhile, have responded to the recent military advance on Hodeidah with mortar fire, which is notoriously imprecise and should never be used in populated areas. This tactic is also claiming an increasing number of civilian lives 

No escape for trapped civilians

According to the International Organization for Migration, more than half of Hodeidah’s estimated 600,000 residents have managed to leave the city before it becomes engulfed in conflict, but many remain and are effectively trapped.

Ongoing fighting blocks escape routes to the south of the city, and Huthi forces have mined other routes out, leaving only the northern road free to pass. But soaring fuel prices and Yemen’s currency collapse – both of which are symptoms of the conflict – mean this potential escape route is out of reach for many people.

The Saudi Arabia and UAE-led Coalition has failed to follow through on a September 24 pledge to establish three humanitarian corridors out of Hodeidah city.

“Trapped by a cruel combination of changing frontlines, minefields and reports of air strikes targeting those who flee, Hodeidah’s civilians face a life-threatening dilemma while the battle encroaches ever closer,” said Samah Hadid.  

“Civilians trapped in Hodeidah are completely powerless and can only stay put to await their fate. Their lives are in the hands of warring parties who have shown little or no regard for their duty to protect civilians.”

Background 

Fighting in Hodeidah governorate has been ongoing since December 2017, with a sharp escalation around the port city itself in recent months. This has displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians and has led to a deterioration in the humanitarian situation.   

Ground fighting to the south of Hodeidah city, as well as air strikes and shelling, have caused hundreds of civilian casualties, destruction of civilian homes and infrastructure and continued displacement. In recent days, as the UN Security Council considers a ceasefire agreement which would include Hodeidah, fighting has spread to southern and eastern districts on the city’s outskirts.  

The UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator has warned that Yemen may be at the “tipping point” of widespread famine resulting from the offensive on Hodeidah, the country’s key port, and the depreciation of the Riyal and collapse of the economy. He estimated that an additional 3.5 million people may soon be added to the eight million who are already food insecure.  

The Truth Must be Told

Your contribution supports independent journalism

Please take a moment to consider this. Now, more than ever, people are reading Geller Report for news they won't get anywhere else. But advertising revenues have all but disappeared. Google Adsense is the online advertising monopoly and they have banned us. Social media giants like Facebook and Twitter have blocked and shadow-banned our accounts. But we won't put up a paywall. Because never has the free world needed independent journalism more.

Everyone who reads our reporting knows the Geller Report covers the news the media won't. We cannot do our ground-breaking report without your support. We must continue to report on the global jihad and the left's war on freedom. Our readers’ contributions make that possible.

Geller Report's independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our work is critical in the fight for freedom and because it is your fight, too.

Please contribute here.

or

Make a monthly commitment to support The Geller Report – choose the option that suits you best.

Quick note: We cannot do this without your support. Fact. Our work is made possible by you and only you. We receive no grants, government handouts, or major funding. Tech giants are shutting us down. You know this. Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Adsense, Pinterest permanently banned us. Facebook, Google search et al have shadow-banned, suspended and deleted us from your news feeds. They are disappearing us. But we are here.

Subscribe to Geller Report newsletter here— it’s free and it’s essential NOW when informed decision making and opinion is essential to America's survival. Share our posts on your social channels and with your email contacts. Fight the great fight.

Follow Pamela Geller on Gettr. I am there. click here.

Follow Pamela Geller on
Trump's social media platform, Truth Social. It's open and free.

Remember, YOU make the work possible. If you can, please contribute to Geller Report.

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spammy or unhelpful, click the - symbol under the comment to let us know. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

If you would like to join the conversation, but don't have an account, you can sign up for one right here.

If you are having problems leaving a comment, it's likely because you are using an ad blocker, something that break ads, of course, but also breaks the comments section of our site. If you are using an ad blocker, and would like to share your thoughts, please disable your ad blocker. We look forward to seeing your comments below.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
12 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0349 JAT
0349 JAT
5 years ago

The followers of the religion of peace showing their love for everyone involved.
Muslims can not and will not live in peace with anyone anywhere.
That goes for their fellow muslims.

Thomas Faddis
Thomas Faddis
5 years ago
Reply to  0349 JAT

Well, if they’re not muslim Enough, then that’s not gonna work, doncha’ see?!

felix1999
felix1999
5 years ago

Since when do Muslims of any sect have honor?
The idea that you can have a war with surgical strikes is also silly.
Muslims will always HIDE behind women, children, the sick and wounded.

Kuffar
Kuffar
5 years ago

What do you expect from inbred Muslim scum.

Daniel FX Dravot
Daniel FX Dravot
5 years ago

Islam is a religion of peace. If you dispute that statement, its followers will kill you.

MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
5 years ago

One group of f’ing muslums killing another group of f’ing muslums? What’s not to like?

evangeline golding
evangeline golding
5 years ago

I find I can live very comfortably with muslims killing muslims. They’re doing the job for us.

MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
5 years ago

It’s the gift that just keeps giving!

evangeline golding
evangeline golding
5 years ago

It is indeed. Let’s hope it numbers in the billions! Ground zero!

MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
5 years ago

I told my Jewish friend if Israel and Jews want to be a light unto nations they should start out by bringing a nuclear enlightenment to the muslum world.

evangeline golding
evangeline golding
5 years ago

Absolutely true! That’s the only kind of enlightenment they’ll understand…for a few seconds before they’re vaporized!

Thomas Faddis
Thomas Faddis
5 years ago

Saudi Arabia’s job isn’t to take in refugees, it’s to Create them!

Sponsored
Geller Report
Thanks for sharing!