A/HRC/42/CRP.1
front of your eyes and do nothing. I froze. I just kept shouting and crying. The
surveillance plane kept roaming. We could only collect their bodies in the
morning… When women are no longer women…Torn to pieces… a
massacre. We dug one grave. We buried them all in one grave. There is no
power or strength save in God…”
Survivor, airstrike on Maghrabat Talan703
440. On 9 March 2019, between 21:00 hrs and approximately 22:00 hrs, three successive
weapons dropped from aircraft hit two civilian homes and a farm in Maghrabat Talan,
Kushar, in Hajjah. Kushar is one of the main districts of Hajjah where fighting between the
Houthis and the Hajouri tribes had taken place between January and March 2019. 704
According to information gathered by the Group of Experts, airstrikes intensified following
the Houthi takeover of the area on 8 March 2019. One witness reported that planes had
been bombing and roaming the area for several hours that night. 705 The first airstrike hit a
home that reportedly belongs to a man affiliated with the de facto authorities, without
causing civilian casualties. Around one hour later, a nearby house, sheltering a number of
families was hit by another airstrike. Seven children and nine women were reportedly
killed, and 13 people were injured, including three women and seven children.706 Having
heard the blast of that second strike, which fully destroyed the house, families sheltering in
a home nearby ran into an open area at a farm for fear their house would be next. They
were however immediately hit by a third airstrike, while trying to escape. The last two
airstrikes took place between five to 10 minutes apart.707 Eight civilians were killed in the
third strike, four women and four children. A 16-year-old girl with a severe physical
disability was reportedly injured while trying to escape. She died as a result of her injuries
three days later in hospital, bringing the death toll recorded by the Group of Experts from
the third airstrike to nine.708 In total, at least 19 civilians were reportedly killed between the
two airstrikes that night, including 11 children and eight women709. The Group of Experts
confirmed710 the death of 13 victims, including 11 women and girls, from at least two
different families. A six-year-old girl who was killed in the airstrike reportedly died with
her mother and sister while trying to flee into the farm. Another young girl remained in a
critical condition at the time the Group of Experts was finalizing its report. 711
441. A witness described to the Group of Experts how 17 people had fled the second
house, which was sheltering five families at the time. He said he was running to join them,
after they had taken out the women and children, when the airstrike hit the farm. As a plane
believed to be conducting reconnaissance continued roaming the area, he hid and told the
Group of Experts that he could hear the screams for help of those who survived but was too
scared to go to them. He described to the Group that he and other men only reached the
victims in the early morning, and that he found torn pieces of the children’s bodies and
blood all over the farm, between 15 to 40 meters away from the blast. The Group of
Experts was not able to confirm the existence of any military presence around the house or
farm, which was located in a remote village.
(f)
Airstrike on a residential building, 16 May 2019, Sana’a city
442. On 16 May 2019, at approximately 08:15am, an airstrike carried out by the coalition
in Sana’a city and nearby areas, struck a four-storey residential building in al-Rukas and alRabat streets. The strike resulted in at least five civilian deaths (two girls, 5 and 11 year-
703
Confidential Sources on File.
For further details on the conflict in Hajour, see Chapter “Life in Sana’a and other areas under
control of the de facto authorities”, Section “Hajjah governorate, the Hajour conflict, January to
March 2019”.
705 Confidential Sources on File.
706
Confidential Sources on File.
707 Confidential Sources on File.
708 Confidential Sources on File.
709 Confidential Sources on File.
710 Confidential Sources on File.
711 Confidential Sources on File.
704
110
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