In the month of February, the Saudi-led coalition executed at least 200 air raids and about 716 individual airstrikes in Yemen. According to a report by Dave DeCamp at Antiwar.com the Saudi-led coalition has carried out at least 200 air raid missions each month since October 2021.
Per figures from the Yemen Data Project, there were 15 civilian casualties in February. This represented a steep decline from January when there were 426 recorded civilian casualties. January’s civilian casualty count was, according to DeCamp’s report, “the highest monthly rate seen since 2016.”
The airstrikes that the Saudi-led coalition conducted in February largely targeted the Hajjah governorate. This part of Yemen suffered 51 air raids.
The 15 civilian casualties in February were the result of two air raids conducted that month.
On February 14, the coalition of Gulf Arab countries targeted a water drill in the al-Matmmah district of al-Jawf, which killed and injured at least three civilians. On February 20, in the Abs district of Hajja, an air raid struck a civilian house, which resulted in the killing of a woman and a child and the injury of at least 10 additional people.
Per the Yemen Data Project’s figures, 11% of the aerial strikes hit civilian targets, 18.5% hit military targets, and 70.5% of the targets were unidentified. Some of the civilian infrastructure that was impacted by the air strikes “includes communication sites, farms, and residential areas,” per DeCamp’s report.
DeCamp observed that the Biden Administration has done little halt American military aid to Saudi Arabia for its brutal war in Yemen:
Over a year has passed since President Biden vowed to end support for the Saudi-led coalition’s “offensive” operations in Yemen. But the US never stopped servicing Saudi warplanes that are bombing Yemen and recently escalated its role in the war by helping the UAE intercept Houthi missiles.
The Yemeni Civil War started in 2014 and has involved Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners such as United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Egypt, Sudan, Jordan, and Qatar attempting to prop up the embattled government of Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi against the Houthi rebels. This Civil War has gotten geopolitical with Iran providing military assistance to the Houthi rebels in an attempt to poke the Saudi government in the eye.
This is part of the regional proxy war Iran and Saudi Arabia have been involved in over the past few decades. Ultimately, the U.S. should stay out of this conflict and let the concerned parties establish a modus vivendi in Yemen. There’s no pressing national interest at stake for America in Yemen.
