Rights Center: 12 Martyred, 21 Wounded in Saudi Escalation on Taiz
The Humanity Eye Center for Human Rights and Development has condemned the criminal Saudi aggression’s escalation and continued targeting of civilians in Taiz province, affirming that airstrikes, artillery shelling, and sniper fire have caused dozens of casualties, including women and children, in a series of attacks that targeted residential areas and citizens’ property.
In a statement, the center explained that the recent criminal Saudi escalation resulted in the martyrdom of 12 citizens and the injury of 21 others, including children, due to airstrikes, artillery shelling, and sniper fire. It noted that three children were injured by the explosion of mortar shells fired by Saudi enemy mobilizations on the Al-Ma’yanah and Hamah Al-Sufla areas in Al-Masrakh district.
The statement indicated that these attacks come within a series of Saudi crimes targeting civilians in Taiz province. It noted that the center’s statistics since the beginning of the escalation in the province have reached 236 casualties, including 67 martyrs—17 children and 12 women—in addition to 169 wounded, including 33 children and 28 women.
Recent Crimes: Homes, Markets, and Livestock Targeted
The center explained that the recent Saudi crimes included the martyrdom of three citizens and the death of a number of livestock due to an airstrike targeting Al-Ardi area in Dhubab district. Nine citizens, including women and children, were martyred and 16 others injured by four airstrikes targeting citizens’ homes in Himyar Al-Jabal isolation, Maqbanah district.
The crimes extended to other areas in the province, where a citizen was injured by mortar shelling in the Mashra’ah Shar’ab area, and another citizen was injured by sniper fire in the Hadhran area of Al-Ta’iziyah district, in a continuation of attacks that threaten residents’ lives and exacerbate their humanitarian suffering.
The Center affirmed that the rising number of casualties, especially among children and women, reveals the danger of the conditions civilians are living in Taiz province. It warned of the continued targeting of residential areas and the resulting direct threat to citizens’ lives, security, and safety.
It noted that the repeated criminal Saudi airstrikes, artillery shelling, and gunfire on populated areas raise serious concerns about the extent of compliance with the rules of international humanitarian law, particularly the principles related to the protection of civilians, the distinction between military and civilian objectives, and the taking of necessary precautions to avoid harming the population.
Full Responsibility on the Saudi Regime
The Center held the Saudi regime responsible for these crimes and their repercussions, and for the violations that affected civilians and their property in Taiz province and various Yemeni governorates. It stressed the necessity of not allowing these attacks to continue without accountability and reckoning.
It called on the international community and human rights and humanitarian organizations to assume their legal and humanitarian responsibilities toward what civilians in Taiz are being subjected to, to move urgently to stop Riyadh’s crimes and ensure the protection of the population, and to work on holding those responsible for the violations accountable to ensure that perpetrators do not escape punishment.
The Saudi escalation in Taiz province represents a continuation of the Saudi-led coalition’s systematic targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure in Yemen. The targeting of residential areas, markets, and homes constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law, which prohibits targeting civilians and civilian objects and requires parties to distinguish between military and civilian objectives.