Photography by Alex Potter
“We were sitting in the mosque, reading Quran. A while after the afternoon prayer we heard a plane circling, and a huge explosion,” says a boy surveying the damage to a mosque in the village of Al Joob, in Yemen. “People were running and there were pieces of bodies everywhere.”
On July 6, 2015, Saudi-led coalition airstrikes killed over 30 civilians in Al Joob, a village located in Amran, a rural governorate north of Sanaa. As Yemeni families shopped for produce, men prayed in the mosque nearby, and women prepared the evening meal, a missile struck a small market, burning cars, shattering glass, and sending shrapnel into the bodies of dozens of bystanders.
The strike on the market hit an open area. It destroyed the market and damaged the mosque and nearby homes. The second strike hit rocks that were set to be broken down into building material, and tore apart nine children and a man from a farming family selling fruits and vegetables.
There is no military site in the area, nor any place for possible weapons storage, according to local residents.
The two strikes in Amran are added to a long list of others, including one in Hajjah that killed 30, and another just north of Aden that left 45 people dead. So why does the Saudi-led coalition, which is supported by U.S. intelligence, continue to hit civilian areas? Saudi Arabia claims the air campaign has been successful in driving back the Houthis, Zaydi Shia rebels who also refer to themselves as Ansar Allah, yet civilians make up the majority of the casualties.
The air campaign, however, is only pushing people to oppose the Saudi-led coalition, which wants to force the Houthis from power. “We are simple farmers. Before this we were not involved in politics,” says Mabkhoot Musa, a resident of Al Joob. “But I swear now that they have killed our sons and nephews, we will be against Saudi until the end.”
“God save us from this crisis. There is no comfort except from God. He will be the one to judge,” says Raja Mohsen, as she holds a Quran in her destroyed kitchen. Her home was damaged in the airstrike, and two children sitting in her living room were killed when the pressure from the bomb broke their windows.
Alex Potter
A Yemeni man from Al Joob lifts the thobe, a traditional robe, to show a shrapnel wound on a boy from the village. The injured youth was one of several boys selling produce to passing cars when the Saudi-led coalition airstrike hit, spraying rocks and shrapnel into their bodies. “There are still pieces of shrapnel near his lungs,” he says. “But we have to wait until the doctor comes later in the week.” Amran Hospital, one of only two in the entire governorate, received 70 casualties from the two markets strikes and another on a checkpoint. Hospitals are already overflowing with general illness and malnutrition cases from dirty water and lack of electricity.
Alex Potter
The wife of Abdul Latif mourns in her home with family after her husband was killed in a Saudi-led coalition airstrike. Abdul Latif, a 35 year old farmer and father of seven, was selling fruit and vegetables on the side of the road when the airstrike hit the side of the road. It killed Abdul Latif and nine young boys from Al Joob.
Alex Potter
Yemeni men visit the new cemetery in Al Joob, dug specifically to accommodate the 30 men, women and children who were killed between two strikes on a public market and along a roadside. Some had already been buried, but other graves lay empty, waiting for the bodies to come from the morgue in Amran or Sanaa. More hopeful cases were sent to the better equipped hospitals in Sanaa, but most died on the way there.
Alex Potter
Yemeni children stand outside the Huwaiti home, as the mother of Mohammad and Ahmad mourns. She lost both of her sons, ages 17 and 14, who were selling produce on the side of the road, to a Saudi-led coalition airstrike in Al Joob village.
Alex Potter
Hani al Ahnooni, 12 years old, lies injured in a hospital in Amran, Yemen on July 7, 2015. He was selling tomatoes on the side of the road in Al Joob when a Saudi-led coalition airstrike hit, killing nine children. His right arm was shattered and shrapnel remains in his head and left hand.
Alex Potter
A Yemeni boy stands in the main door to the old city of Amran, which has been spared airstrikes. The old city of Saada, in the north, has been almost completely destroyed. In Sanaa as well, a Saudi air strike destroyed a section of the old city. Most of the strikes in Amran governorate have been outside the provincial capital, hitting markets and homes in local villages.
Alex Potter
Alex Potter (b. 1989) is a documentary photographer from the Midwest living in the Middle East.
Heads up from Oxfam:
There are now 5000 confirmed cases of Dengue Fever there, and the UNWFP predicts that unless there is food aid, the number in Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) will rise as high as 450,000 — which means that the number of deaths from diarrhea and malnutrition could eventually exceed 100,000 — 200,000.
The so-called Saudi restrictions on imports are in fact a naval blockade, in essence laying illegal siege to the entire country.
What purpose do these bombings serve???? I’m at a lose here.. I have read about govt., law, corruption, issues for 4 years…I am a retired
high school teacher..and I do not see the reason for bombings innocents. So…bombs are in the hands, control of the mentally ill…and
that is the fault of ‘the people’…in Saudi Arabia, the U.S., Israel, etc…all of the countries that have these weapons. I do not believe
in hierarchy in any form…monarchy, communism, democracy, etc… just leads to violence and death. I will be seeking a better country
than the U.S…or retreat to an island in Fiji..where I have a Lot…The villages there choose the best people to be chief…and have no
weapons…don’t need them…as the good people do not try to control others… ONLY the mentally ill want to control others and push
the violence… villages in Fiji have much to teach the world…..
I find it upsetting that the media in North America loves to show ISIS blowing up ancient artifacts yet the Saudis can bomb the ancient world into oblivion and not a peep from the corporate media. Why?
“The air campaign, however, is only pushing people to oppose the Saudi-led coalition, which wants to force the Houthis from power. “We are simple farmers. Before this we were not involved in politics,” says Mabkhoot Musa, a resident of Al Joob. “But I swear now that they have killed our sons and nephews, we will be against Saudi until the end.”
This is how you perpetuate an “anti-terrorism” military complex funded perpetually by taxpayers in the belief these bombings and occupations will end terror. If someone bombed and murdered your loved ones would you not feel so much anger to take up arms against those who casually kill for what appears the love of it. A mad mad mad mad world indeed!
It is deplorable that the heritage sites in Yemen are being destroyed by the Saudi bombs. Especially because the Saudis don’t seem to have a reason for the bombing.
But as for the “corporate media”, the following media covered the destruction of heritage sites:
New York Times
Los Angeles Times
BBC
Washington Post
CNN
The Telegraph
Pravda
NBC
Bloomberg
The Guardian
Yahoo News
Google News
Al Jazeera America
Rolling Stone Magazine
Huffington Post
Russian TV
Al Arabiya
Daily Mail
Dawn
Boston Globe
Xinhua
NY Daily News
ABC News
Chicago Sun
Chicago Tribune
San Francisco Chronicle
San Jose Mercury News
MSN
Oddly, the Miami Herald either didn’t cover it or they put it within a broader article.
I understand the desire of Saudi Arabia to test out its weapons. They have been mortgaging their future by exchanging their only significant resource for arms for almost a century now. So they want to see what they got out of the deal.
But I do question why they are bombing their next door neighbour. People are unforgiving. If you kill their children or spouses, they will hold a grudge, sometimes for generations. So inevitably there is blowback. That’s why the US, when it gets an itch to bomb someone, doesn’t start strafing Canada. Their shared border is too long and it would be too easy for the Canadians to sneak across it and retaliate. So the US, when it wants to field test its latest gear, generally contents itself with launching wars in Asia. There may be some blowback, but you can usually contain it.
It’s possible that Saudi Arabia is trying too hard to emulate Israel. Some years ago, it tried to build a wall around Yemen, inspired by the West Bank wall. Now it seems to be doing a Gaza on Yemen. If they keep it up, we may even soon see a BDS movement to boycott Saudi oil. However, their most immediate problem will be with Yemen itself. As the Europeans who were so keen on bombing Libya learned to their regret, living next door to a country you have destroyed has drawbacks, even if only in form of unwanted refugees. And I suspect the Yemenis will find ways to strike back.
This probably explains why the US is supporting this war. If Saudi destabilizes, it will be a tremendous opportunity to invade as peace keepers and take direct control of all their remaining oil. Even Joe Biden must sometimes fantasize about not having to kiss the asses of the Saudi royal family.
The United States has as much blood on their hands as Saudi Arabia:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-26/yemeni-bombing-led-by-saudis-is-backed-by-u-s-logistics-spying
And don’t hold your breath trying to find ONE SINGLE person who is running for POTUS to denounce this.
Not. One.
Arab children = war meat.
In 2011, when some of the unrest in Yemen’s big cities and in the south started to look violent, my reaction was, “Oh, no!” Yemen to me was chalked up in my mind’s map as a place of refuge, a place to which people fleeing conflict could go and feel safe. But it didn’t happen. In 2013 when Aden seemed cut off from humanitarian aid, again my reaction was, “Oh, no!”, but again the Yemenis did not fail to be kind, although there was friction and they needed help in doing so. Now it is the Yemenis who need refuge. I just hope their neighbors who relied on the good graces of the Yemenis in their hour of need will be as willing to help those who helped them.
As for the Saudi bombing, the Security Council should vote to remand Mohammad bin Salman to Fatou Bensouda’s office for investigation, on charges of indiscriminate bombing, bombing protected sites, and bombing civilian targets.
My apologies. According to UN OCHA, people are still arriving in Yemen:
Good photos and article, but I feel it would be more powerful if photos of corpses and body parts were included. That’s a sickening thing to think and ask for but it also might be true. The more the shock the more the general public might start to give a tiny shit about this. The most disturbing pictures from Abu Ghraib caused the most reaction for example, and so might be the case for other abuses. And war photography in general. Disturbing is good. Making a viewer want to vomit is better.
I’m definitely sympathetic to your point, but at the same time there’s the issue of respect for the dead and the family. That was the same conflict I felt last some when pictures of dead and maimed Gazans were exploding all over Twitter. I tweeted some of them as well but also engaged in discussions about the relative ethics of the whole thing.
Hi Dave – While I don’t agree about the vomiting part, had I been there at the time
of the strike, the actual victims would have been photographed of course. Unfortunately this strike was a couple hours north of the city and wasn’t safe to travel at night – and victims are buried within hours normally of a strike. It is true journalism is a fine balance of making people want to look but also not making them look away. Thank you for taking the time to look.
…and the strategic purpose of the frequent bombings of markets is?
Thank you for both your courage and talent in exposing this ongoing terror..
Thanks for getting these excellent photos out. The war on Yemen might as well be called the secret or unseen war. Sure, we read snippets of news here snd there, but we rarely catch glimpses of what is happening to the country snd its people. I visited the country in 1991 and have known many Yemenis. They are a wonderful people living in a land unspoiled by the trappings of Western capitalism. I fear for them and their ancient land. Blame for Saudi barbarism must be placed squarely at the feet of Mr Obama & Co.
It’s time to dissolve the UN.
The UN might work if the General Assembly was the only form of it, but as long as there is a
“Security” Council made up of privileged, greedy, arrogant manipulators who override everybody else,
the UN will continue to be the failure it is.
If only the General Assembly had the will to abolish/repudiate/banish the so-called Security Council,
then the UN might be able to redeem itself.
I was thinking of KIM JONG UN, but I take your point. Both UN’s are relegated to the same irrelevance.
Yes, the Security Council has become totally impotent. A couple of members have no need to take any approvals for bombing some other members. Then what is the UN for?
Huge respect to the photojournalist on this magnificent and powerful photo essay. Your job must rip your heart out.
Yemen and Gaza: Why does the US gov and news media stand by and say nothing while their two biggest allies in the Middle Ease shoot fish in a barrel?
Because the “government” and the majority of media are now only branches of Wall Street.
Good question….waiting to hear a sane, informed answer..
Actually, I just remembered that both houses of the faking US Congress have NOT been silent
about the horrors which Israel has repeatedly committed in Gaza.
Each time Israel unleashes its latest horror, the congress
UNANIMOUSLY
passes resolutions in support.
Poignant and important journalism. Thank you.
This is excellent work. I can only hope that these images strike an empathetic chord in those who are ignorant of, whether it be by intention or true lack of awareness, the suffering that is being inflicted on these innocents by the US and its allies.
After reading the other Intercept article concerning Senators Schumer and Portman aligning to help multinational corporations avoid paying taxes, I think I finally get it.
Corporations must not want to pay their taxes because they don’t like the notion of tax dollars paying for innocent children to be droned into smithereens. I had no idea they had such big hearts, those evidently wholly misunderstood corporations of ours.
(Excellent work, Alex!)
Every day I am more convinced
that the core belief of the fake government of the USA (Unctuous Shysters of Avarice) and their allies
is that those with the least deserve even less and
that those with the most deserve more.
These images are examples of business as usual for the capitalist church.
Ah, Pedinska’s comment just appeared. Sorry to be redundant.
In the pic of Hani Al Ahnooni, the caption indicates “his right arm was shattered and shrapnel remains…in his left hand” but the picture appears to show the reverse.
Yes – that was a captioning mistake on my part, I just noticed the same! Will correct this.
Are you shouting fake fake fake,or just a control freak?Do it matter?(which arm?)
As an American,these might be the first photos I’ve seen of Yemenis,and their suffering..Purposeful,I”m sure.
Well, then here’s some more.
The clearest demonstration… Unequivocal proof… That the heads of various states, elected or not, decidedly do not fear any higher power or afterlife at their deaths. They demonstrate they are utterly without any religious conviction. One needn’t have a religious conviction to see how immoral this is. But, for those who so claim and fail to see how wrong… Liar!
The U.S. fully supports a hell-hole like Saudi Arabia and its poisonous Wahabism (which, along with the U.S. treating the Middle East like an ant farm to be experimented with, you can thank for today’s ‘Islamic’ extremism) and then calls countries like Iran or resistance groups like Hezbollah and Hamas “terrorists.”
Whoever is still naive enough to think the U.S. is “moral” and has “good intentions”, please gfy.
Thank you for sharing these images with us Alex. They are powerful.
Minor edit (largely without meaning wrt a heartbreaking image):
And this is why it’s become standard practice to mark limbs prior to surgery.