On August 10th, Saudi Arabian troops executed an airstrike on a school bus in Yemen which killed 40 children, 11 adults and injured 79 others. The reasoning behind the airstrike was to target the Houthi commanders and fighters in hopes of reclaiming Yemeni President Abdu Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s rule. Officials said the bus was on a field trip to celebrate the children graduating from summer school.
Travelling in the Saada Province, the bus drove through a busy market in the town of Dhahyan before the attack was carried out. Colonel Turki al-Malik said the vehicle hit was "not a school bus because there is no school at that time when the incident happened." The same day he followed up his comment by saying that airstrike was a “legitimate target” since the night before a Houthi missile had targeted the Saudi province, Jizan.
The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, and several concerned military leaders called for an investigation which was conducted by the Saudi-led coalition, Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT), in a matter of days. Many claim the only reason for the investigation is because of the widespread publicity the bombing had caused, and the fervent outcry of the Human Rights Watch who plead that JIAT “absolve coalition members of legal responsibility in the vast majority of attacks”.
Further investigation by the Saudi coalition uncovered that mistakes were made in the air strike and thus believe those behind the airstrike should be liable. Namely, the pilot who released the bomb who was informed that there was no imminent threat to the Saudis, only after dropping the missile. A statement put out to ease the tension of the bombing was later denounced by several Yemenis who believed it was not an apology nor a renouncement for the death of countless innocent children.
To read more, visit:
https://abcnews.go.com/International/children-dead-attack-yemen-market/story?id=57121579
By Amanda McCurtie
Editing Christina De Paris
