Over 3,000 Saudi strikes on Yemen hit non-military sites

(AhlulBayt News Agency) - More than a third of Saudi-led air strikes on Yemen hit civilian sites including schools, hospitals and mosques, according to a new study.

The findings came from the Yemen Data Project, a group of security and human rights researchers, who looked into more than 8,600 air raids in the campaign between March 2015 and the end of August this year.

The results of the study were published by British newspaper The Guardian on Friday.

Out of the air raids examined, the study found that 3,577 were listed as hitting military sites and 3,158 non-military, while 1,882 strikes were classified as unknown, according to The Guardian.

Over the course of the campaign led by Saudi Arabia, the survey listed 942 air raids on residential areas, 114 on markets, 34 on mosques, 147 on school buildings, 26 on universities and 378 on transport.

The study, which the report said was based on open-source data including research on the ground, said that one particular school building was hit nine times, and one market was hit 24 times.

Saudi Arabia has been incessantly pounding Yemen since March 2015, with the UN putting the death toll from the military aggression at about 10,000. The offensive was launched to reinstate Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a Saudi ally who has resigned as Yemen’s president.

UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen Jamie McGoldrick said last month that the death toll from the Saudi military aggression could rise even further as some areas had no medical facilities, and that people were often buried without any official record being made.



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