Around midday on March 15, fighter jets from a Saudi-led coalition bombed a market in Mastaba, in Yemen’s northern province of Hajjah. The latest count indicates that about 120 people were killed, including more than 20 children, and 80 were wounded in the strikes — perhaps the deadliest attack yet in a war that has killed more than 6,000 civilians. Local residents and health officials say the carnage was so great in Mastaba that most of the bodies could hardly be identified, and several were beyond recognition.
Footage from airstrikes hit market in Hajja too graphic, so I blurred the civilians & children killed in pic. #Yemen pic.twitter.com/12KiTUD7Ps
— Hisham Al-Omeisy (@omeisy) March 15, 2016
The Saudi coalition consists of nine Arab states that have joined forces against Houthi rebels who have taken over large parts of Yemen. While U.S. fighter jets are not involved in the bombing campaign, the U.S. is providing intelligence and other forms of assistance, including weapons sales and aerial refueling of the Arab jets. After the latest attack, a top United Nations official, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the high commissioner for human rights, said the coalition might be committing war crimes. While the horrific terrorist attacks against civilians in Europe receive extensive media coverage, the U.S.-supported bombings of civilians in Yemen get scant attention.
At the roadside marketplace in Mastaba, journalist Mohammed Ali Kalfood interviewed a number of survivors this weekend. The following is the account of Khaled Hassan Mohammadi, 21, who sold sacks of flour at the market and survived the attack. Mohammadi’s account has been translated and condensed.
WE SAW DEADLY airstrikes on a market last Ramadan, not far from here, but this attack was the deadliest. There was an earlier attempt to bomb this market over two months ago — you can still see the crater over there, where a dud missile is still buried.
But this time, two explosions destroyed the marketplace at noon, when people usually buy their food and khat [a leaf that is a mild stimulant when chewed]. This was the only marketplace in the entire district and had recently become larger, especially after many storekeepers and retailers had to escape from neighboring areas, such as Haradh. People bought a wide range of food in this market; they used to buy and sell livestock, and even bought clothes.
There was a big hangar where khat was sold. Around 12 p.m., the first airstrike hit that hangar. The second hit another hangar soon afterward, where a lot of food was sold. I was in my spot, selling sacks of flour. The market was bustling at the time, with a large number of people. There was a lot of noise coming from the electricity generators and motorcycles, so I heard no warplane. Usually they fly over Mastaba almost every day — you can hear now, this warplane circling overhead.
At noon, when the first explosion took place, I nearly passed out, falling on the ground. The other explosion followed right after the first one. Then, all of a sudden, I found myself jumping to my feet and running ahead. I stopped when I got to the opposite side of the market, only to see bodies scattered all over the place. There were two big craters where the bombs hit — nearly full of ripped and charred bodies, and blood was everywhere. Survivors were in a frenzy; rescuers began to pile up the bodies, while the wounded were rushed to hospitals.
Thank God, I survived unscathed. None of my family members were there at the time. But other families were blown up: Five brothers, who used to help khat sellers to make a living, were all killed in the strikes. When their old father, Hassan Kashoor, came to identify the bodies of his five sons, four of them could hardly be identified, while the other went unidentified. There were too many limbs and other parts of the bodies of those who were killed, so that the families could barely identify their dead.
Sheikh Bakeeli, the local authority in Mastaba, decided that all the unidentified bodies, along with the limbs and other body parts that had been collected, should be buried in one place. They were buried in a communal grave, not far from the marketplace itself.
Top photo: Khaled Hassan Mohammadi sits with his sacks of flour in the aftermath of a Saudi-led bombing in Mastaba, Yemen, in March 2016.
A United Nations panel investigating the Saudi led bombing campaign in Yemen documented in its report that the coalition had conducted air strikes in Yemen targeting civilians and civilian objects in violation of International humanitarian law. This included targeting schools, medical centres, hospitals, camps for refugees, markets, factories, mosques, buses, and weddings.
The Guardian reported on this in January and reported that the UN ‘panel had documented 119 coalition sorties relating to violations of international humanitarian law’
On the 15th January 2016 the Guardian report titled ‘British and US military in command room for Saudi strikes on Yemen’ reported that ”the UK government had been put on notice that it is in breach of international law for allowing the export of British made missiles and military equipment to Saudi Arabia that might have been used to kill civilians’
According to The Guardian in their report ‘The UK Ministry of Defence confirmed that British forces were in the operation room to provide training and advice ‘on best practice targeting techniques to help ensure continued compliance with international humanitarian law under a long standing arrangement, but said they did not have an operational role’
The Guardian’s report also stated that ‘last year Saudi led coalition strikes hit a Medecins Sans Frontieres mobile clinic and hospital and several schools. Saudi coalition strikes are alleged to have targeted electricity and water’
Bombing Yemen= bombing a kindergarten, what are the Houthi doing so right to get this. Saudis are desperate.
May whom ever fired those missiles or bombs rot in the depths of hell!
And this:
http://fair.org/home/brussels-bombings-destroy-fiction-that-all-terrorism-deaths-count-as-equal/
And people wonder why the USA is one of the most hated countries in the world! Our government and military as well as corporate America should be taken out and executed for TREASON and for ARMING A TERRORIST COUNTRY! America is too good to obey laws. We are BETTER THAN THE REST OF THE WORLD ! We are the WORLDS POLICEMAN! Hate our country fine, we will just tax our slaves more and put a few more drones out there or maybe add some cluster bombs to that order as well!
USA IS THE SICKEST SOCIETY IN THE WORLD! I am ASHAMED to be an AMERICAN! Cuba is a baby compared to the atrocities the USA causes AND IS NEVER HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR! China buy us out so we can finally admit we live in a dictatorship! Please drop the exit tax so I can leave this HORRIBLE COUNTRY that cares NOTHING for the people.
Agree with you entirely, Miss V. Most of those weapons made in the USA.
America has the most expensive healthcare system in the world, for the rich: “http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-cheapest-patient-is-dead-one-by.htmlhttp://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-cheapest-patient-is-dead-one-by.html”
Until congress raises taxes, this country will continue it’s decline.
Thanks to the author and the The Intercept for publishing this article.
Walter Cronkite did it for over 10 years with little to no effect but it still should be reported to show what the Empire of the Exceptionals is willing to do to consolidate and expand its power.
As far as I can tell, the Saudi royals and their coalition of Arab “countries” are not allies of the US nor are they partners – they are us. The Saudi royals are full members in the Empire of the Exceptionals not subordinate to it but part of it.
This sort of barbaric attack, slaughtering civilians including many children, along with the US drone program, are effectively a driving force for terrorism and destabilization across the World. Such mindless killing is pouring petrol on the flames of terrorism, igniting it further and serving as a recruitment tool for terrorist groups including Isis. It is an outrage that the mass media continues to witness attacks like Paris and Brussels, yet remains silent about how the drone program, and other coalition and US bombings of civilians are fueling terrorist recruitment and feelings of hatred.
People need to be asking why, after nearly 15 years, has the War on Terror still not been won, despite the US military being the most technically advanced and powerful in the World ? Why is the war seemingly expanding, but still has no end in site ? What has the cost been in terms of civillian lives and in tax payers money ? How effective has the war and drone program really been, and what has been achieved ? Why is not a single candidate in the US elections opposing the continual expansion of the War on Terror and the militarization of the US ?
The War on Terror has become a contrived entity to generate massive profits for the military industrial complex. Agree with previous poster about Saudi government being an extension of our Pentagon which is its own shadow government that operates with a blank check all over the world to generate profit for a select group of elite investors. Check out the stock prices of all the military hardware corporations every time there is a terrorist incident.
C’est inhumain
Now the time to take drastic measures has finally come. Way too long the American forces and their European allies have been way too soft on these evil parasitic hordes of hostile pestilent invaders. Europe needs to establish a demarcation line throughout its continent, secured by electrical fences, autonomous firing installations, water ditches, anti vehicle and anti personal mine fields, autonomous flame throwers and concrete walls, a bulwark to transform itself into a fortress of freedom, democracy, peace and prosperity by erecting a semi permeable membrane.
The US has to stop playing around in the middle east, it has to change its primary interest from war profiteering of its main arms manufacturers by teasing terrorists with oversized toy planes (while indeed great weapons to spread terror, a shock and aww approach is much more efficient) and instead adopt a new process and solution oriented strategy to eradicate this hostile elements as soon as possible.
The world’s most powerful nation, the only superpower in a world of mere regional powers, the nation that successfully contained and restrained the evil and barbaric hordes of communist aggressors needs to step up its game and eradicate this subhuman filth calling itself ISIS.
A bunch of (not more than a five digit number) criminals with stolen weapons and without an air force and or air defence, laughable. Propping up this scum as any form of challenge isn’t even funny anymore, it is deeply insulting to the intellect and honor of all armed service members who proudly fulfill their duty of protecting their country, their nation, the great United States of America.
For any observer it is obvious that the main goal heretofore hasn’t been the destruction of this crime syndicate, otherwise much more effective measures would have been taken than to just tease them with oversized toy planes as already mentioned, which by the way, act as great recruiting tool for more terrorists for the purpose of never ending conflict and continued warfare with the intent of boosting the profits of the defence industry. That certainly has its place as an experimental playground for new weapons systems, however not anymore when the violence swaps over to our beloved allies.
The US has to purchase and refit a big number of Boeing 747-800s and Airbus A-380s into modern, long range high capacity bombers. Each of these aircraft is much bigger and has a much higher payload than the aging but still mighty Boeing B-52 Stratofortress.
As soon as such have been acquired, which also would be in the best interest of the defence industry, we need to identify the terrorist’s nests and immediately start carpet bombing them like we did in Vietnam and WWII. Fly formations of dozens of bombers over the designated target zones, drop hundredths of tons of bombs in a single mission and destroy every human build structure identifiable. Leave only death and destruction.
As long as we continue to bomb individual buildings, complexes by single sorties where we expect the terrorists to be, they, because of being highly mobile, will just relocate to a different structure. Bombing the entire area at once and leaving just ashes and rubble, has a much higher probability of taking them all out at once. Contrary to Vietnam, in Iraq and Syria there are no woods to hide under, therefore it is easy to spot all of the man-made structures in the terrorist controlled areas to bomb them into smithereens.
Certainly there might be some collateral damage, however for the greater good that is justifiable because it is going to alleviate millions from continued suffering and harm, it is indeed an act of decency and humanity to do everything in our power to eradicate any terrorist threat surfacing at any given time. For that purpose we always have to have a large fleet of really big bombers to carpet bomb indiscriminately whenever, wherever and whatever we deem appropriate, being in Asia, Africa, Arabia or South America.
In the media it is sometimes mentioned that more bombing and or a prolonged bombing campaign doesn’t lead to the desired result, which is utter nonsense of course. Bombing done right nearly always leads to the desired result, as soon as everything is destroyed and killed any threat just evaporates in the truest sense of the word, one has to do it right of course, cold war style.
God bless the United States of America, the supreme force of good, prosperity, justice, happiness freedom and democracy in the world.
You did that in Vietnam and it failed. Maybe you should stop supplying like an addicted drug dealer mad for money and war?
A disgusting war crime which the murderous Saudis and their coalition backers should be held fully accountable for.
yes indeed.
As long as Muslims are busy killing few other Muslims the rest of us don’t have anything to say. All in the family. Obviously, you realize that we can’t afford to offer the same kind of goodwill when they come murdering us.
Thank you, Intercept, for reporting on this.
Thank you for reading it and for your comment.
What bothers me about these Twitter images is that I’m not seeing them because I have scripts off. Because they’re not ON The Intercept, but on some third party site. Normally, when news outlets find a newsworthy image, they feel pretty free to make fair use of it, but when it comes to these major We-Own-The-Internet corporations, I see news outlets just give up and let the third party make records of who is reading the article, and of course they can further censor or completely delete the images at any time. It’s very convenient from a government point of view because you can have 20 news articles like this one and if Twitter decides this won’t be something people are allowed to see, all those articles will go unillustrated after that.
Saudis are killing Muslims, which is a good thing because if left to themselves Muslims are developing a habit of suicide-bombing and killing themselves as well as many non-Muslims along with them. Muslims should listen to Donald Trumpu and make sure he becomes President by voting for him.
I sincerely hope this is sarcasm. It’s hard to imagine it as anything but.
Sweetheart, you don’t want any Muslim coming close to you wearing one of those suicide-vests. Till today not a single Muslim has come forward informing that one of their relatives or friends is going on a suicidal mission to kill others. They are all in this mischief, while pretending that it’s the “bad” people among them who are suicide-bombing others. You believe there are good Muslims, good for you. I’ll also believe when “good” Muslims stop mischief by the “bad” Muslims if really such a distinction exists. Right now Saudis are doing what other Muslims should be doing anyway, never mind who’s good and who’s bad. Best they keep busy killing each other rather than they direct their attention on us.
Sadly it is not sarcasm , as this General Hercules has been publishing his racist and Islamophobic hatred remarks across the comments section of many reports in the Intercept.
“While U.S. fighter jets are not involved in the bombing campaign” — I thought the Saudis were purchasing a lot of their weaponry from the US, including fighter jets. Are these really not US-made?
This is an important point: the US has been supplying vast quantities of weaponry to countries known for their utter disregard for democracy and human rights.
British weapons companies have also sold over 5.6 billion pounds of arms, fighter jets, and other military equipment to Saudi Arabia, under David Cameron. It appears that the slaughtered innocent children in the pictures paid the price for the war profiteering.
Thank you for your comment. The intended meaning of “U.S. fighter jets” is U.S.-piloted (as in U.S. Air Force). Could have been clearer, though the intro did mention U.S. weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and linked to a Human Rights Watch report that provided details on U.S. weapons sold to Riyadh. Peter Maass, Senior Editor, The Intercept
Too bad they don’t live in Europe. Then people would care.
Truer words, sadly, could not be spoken.
Warring parties, warring peoples, weapons industry, political and religious divisionism… What is it that people in power despise so much of some others? Why is it that people believe killing others is any sort of real solution? I believe the time has come for us to start redrawing some borders and creating some new countries because these conflicts are not otherwise going to end.
And it is time for the whore politicians to stop promoting the war economy and forcing a slave state upon the rest of the people whose tax dollars go to killing.
“I believe the time has come for us to start redrawing some borders and creating some new countries because these conflicts are not otherwise going to end.”
I believe just the opposite should transpire: the end of the provincial notion of “countries”.
NEVER happen! USA is the one that started this whole middle east conflict by ILLEGALLY INVADING another country and never have to go before the Hague, due to us being MR. MACHO when it comes to doing the deed, BUT THE BIGGEST COWARD IN THE WORLD for refusing to be held ACCOUNTABLE! USA government & MILITARY are BOTH a TERRORIST ORGANIZATION! Wait until nobody will loan us money anymore and start calling in their markers. USA is TRUMPING up the military cause the USA don’t want to pay their own bills and will sic the military on anyone that tries to collect from it. Totally corrupt entity!
It’ll happen. You’re just not thinking with a long enough timeline.
This article about Mastaba stands in stark contrast with the following one about Brussels. The latter has already super-saturated every form of media there is. But as for Mastaba, well, next to nothing in the news about the devastation and loss of life and certainly nothing about the psychological effect this will have on survivor’s, something immediately addressed in the Brussels attack. Ever the colonial mentality (whatever euphemism it goes by today) at work.
Thanks for covering this.
you guys need to stop this censorship of images. we need to see everything, all the dead bodies, dead kids, everything…why are you not including those photos in your article? the truth is graphic and it needs to be told and SEEN. mainstream likes to censor reality by saying its too graphic…..stop the crap man…show everything…the truth most not be hidden just because its too graphic…the world must know…stop the censorship.
agree. What the israelis did to the palestinians is horrible. Crimes without redemption. The pictures showed the depravity of the israeli souls and shows others what people who war are willing to accept. This whole thing is a curse upon the planet and us good people should also not have to suffer for this outrage.
btw: the tweeter did the blurring of the images. But, I don’t agree and I would not call it censorship It’s something I have grappled with and thought about for years having worked as a photo-journalist. I do not have any answers to whether or not or when and how. Except, yes, people need to know (if they want to evolve/develop) what their complicity, whether silent or active, results in and how it impacts others lives. But there are a few things at play. One is the right to dignity of the dead /injured people and why should their loved ones have to see them splattered across social media or any media for that matter. Why should they be twice abused. Secondly, images like this only serve a purpose if accompanied by a constant and consistent flow of information and background (140 characters doesn’t cut it), the blurred images were on a tweet. Also, too much and viewer fatigue sets in, people’s eyes just glaze over at another mangled, bloody corpse or suffering human being, it becomes the norm with no impact whatsoever. So, ultimately, it serves only as gratuitous, voyeuristic at best and counterproductive at worst.
At Perpignan, the photojournalist exposition, of the thousands of images of war torn zones, violence and abuse those with the most impact are those that show the aftermath of barbarity, after it has been cleaned up, the traces that are left, the people that are left, the scars and indelible prints made on the environment and people. I have seen some beyond gruesome images there and for me (as for many others) they act like screaming people, so loud and aggressive and in your face you cannot hear what is being said. These images end up being heavy visceral blows that share no truth that can be understood.
I understand what your saying, but I meant include it as part of the article. When you have news story about a entire market getting bombed they should show the full story which includes photos of the aftermath, so people in the west can see the truth and it can’t be silenced. The west has a long tradition of keeping silent the plight of their victims. I think hiding the horror these people have suffered and forgetting about them is an insult to them and their memory.
I could not agree more. I have been saying it for years. Let the world see what your tax dollars have wrought. Little kids with half of their faces sheared off. Pools of blood with severed limbs. Show it all. On the front page of EVERY newspaper and EVERY day. Sound grotesque? Well, that’s what it looks like folks. In your face for breakfast every damn day.
I find it particularly befuddling when I’m told “children shouldn’t be exposed to the images of war. We need to protect them from such gruesome images.” There are two responses I offer: 1) Yes, and how do you suppose the children who are on the scene, who are exposed to it in person, are affected? Who protects them? 2) How about we don’t subject children to gruesome deaths, in the name of war?
That is the reason the Vietnam War finally stopped. We saw on our televisions how ugly our country had become. Today, that ugliness is what America’s largest corporations call profit.
I get what you’re saying, but showing uni elated images will drive people away. I personally find unfiltered pictures of children too distressing. In the Israel rampage against Gaza two years ago I had to stop following a lot of people on Twitter that I agreed with because I couldn’t cope with seeing mutilated kids every day. I gave money to UNWRA at the time and contribute to UNHCR now, but if I knew the intercept was publishing clear photos of the victims, I’d never come here again.
I’m a fan of Greenwald, and have been since I read him on Salon. His articles a regarding the calling of innocent victims of drone strikes ‘bugsplats’ stayed with me for a long time. That was powerful reporting without pictures of dead dismembered kids though.
I think it’s far more powerful emotionally to show them in photos their parents took before they were slaughtered. To see them as real people with their lives ahead of them. The same way that the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre were shown, optimistic, photos taken by loving parents.
Canada’s much-feted Prime Minister Shinyhair Justin Trudeau has not lifted a finger to stop a planned sale of weaponized vehicles to Saudi Arabia. A bit of coverage of what is happening to people in Yemen might be squeezed into Canadian news media, I’d think, with room still left to spare for ongoing editorializing about how wonderful he is for Canada’s international image.
Thanks for covering this – the rest of the U.S. media’s coverage, what little there is, is pretty nauseating, for example:
“UN Says None of Yemen’s Warring Parties Protect Civilians
Ahmed al-Haj & Dave Bryan, Associated Press, Mar 16, 2016″ – picked up by ABC News
” . . . airstrikes by a Saudi-led and U.S.-backed coalition targeted a busy market in a northern region controlled by Shiite Houthi rebels, killing and wounding dozens.”
And that’s it for the American media, period. Google News yemen saudi mastaba, you get nothing else – a few reports from the UK, Australia, Canada, and nothing else in the English-language press.
Is this what freedom is?
Freedom to kill and profit off anyone we want?
Yes. The rich and powerful who want what they want when they want it, at any price, have mutated in a subspecies of animals who simply want to feed upon others.
The sin of this situation is the birth of those as unequal and undeserving of the entitlement of life support and entitlement of earnable comfort.
Where it says “thou shalt not kill” well, the weapons industry put that in the shredder.
Haven’t you learned anything in your fine US education system? The USA does what it wants with no consequences. Why do you think we have a 3rd world education level in the USA and only the RICH can afford to pay $50 grand for a school? Most people in the USA make under $10 per hour if they are a working stiff. Face it, we the people are F**KED! Like it or not, that is the AMERICAN WAY (barf).