A/HRC/45/CRP.7
that there had been no military activity or fighting in the area for several months. One witness
reported that he had heard airplanes flying around two or three days before the strikes. Based
on satellite imagery analysis the Group was able to establish that the structure that was
damaged stood alone with no other objects in the vicinity. While it is possible to infer that
the house, its inhabitants and/or the vehicle were the intended target of the airstrike, there is
no information available to the Group to indicate on what basis this targeting occurred.
DigitalGlobe WorldView-2 image 4 December 2019 07:37 UTC (© DigitalGlobe Inc.) Analysis conducted by
UNITAR-UNOSAT
72.
One of the deadliest series of airstrikes of 2020 was conducted by the coalition in the
early hours of 15 February 2020 on a village in Al-Hayjah Area, Al-Maslub District, Al-Jawf
Governorate, killing 32 people - six men, seven women, eight boys and 11 girls - and injuring
21 – three men, six women, seven girls and five boys. Two houses and one car were also
damaged. The airstrikes occurred during a period when the Houthis were making sweeping
advances through the Al-Jawf Governorate. The frontline of hostilities between the Houthis
and the Government of Yemen forces was approximately 13 km from the site of the airstrikes.
The night before the airstrikes, on 14 February 2020, at 11:45 p.m. local time, a Royal Saudi
Air Forces Tornado jet crashed, while conducting a close air support mission in support of
the Yemen armed forces in Al-Jawf Governorate. The Houthis claimed responsibility for this.
The day of the airstrikes, the Saudi Press Agency published a statement announcing that a
search and rescue operation had been conducted following the crash of an aircraft, and that
this operation had possibly resulted in civilian casualties.98 The crash happened some 750 m
north-west of the impact site of the airstrikes. At the time of writing this report, no
information had been provided by JIAT in relation to questions posed by the Group regarding
this incident, and there has been no public statement concerning the outcome of any
investigation by JIAT. There appeared to be no legitimate military objective at the site of the
airstrikes. No warning was given prior to the strikes.
98
Available at: https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=ar&newsid=2034939 (Last Accessed
24 August 2020).
24
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