US raid against the Houthis and the 'forgotten' massacre of migrants in Yemen
A US air raid against a detention centre last Sunday killed at least 68 people from Africa. Since mid-March, US and UK planes hit at least a thousand targets. Advocacy groups report at least 400 civilians killed. Pope Francis is among the few voices who spoke out against the tragedy of migrants in the region.
Sana'a (AsiaNews) – A recent US airstrike caused a massacre of migrants from Africa who were locked up in a detention facility in Saada, lifting the veil on the “hidden war” the West is conducting in Yemen against pro-Iranian Houthi rebels.
The war that is taking place amid the silence of international media and the international community is not only about innocent victims in the local civilian population but also among migrants – often from Africa or Asia – who venture into Yemen to reach countries in the Gulf.
Since January 2024, Washington and London have multiplied their raids, hitting dozens of targets – not only military – in Sana'a, Saada, Hodeida, and other Yemeni governorates.
According to humanitarian and civil society groups, at least 400 civilians have been killed and over a thousand injured in these operations, many of them against non-military facilities and critical areas.
The tragedy of migrants in Yemen is a "tragedy within a tragedy" in a country tormented by a decade-long conflict as well as extreme poverty, relegated to the margins or forgotten.
If some voices have been raised about tragedies in the Mediterranean when boats carrying migrants sink, the deaths of those who flee to Yemen, refugees or economic migrants, are often ignored or limited to terse news coverage.
Not even the international community seems to be interested, so much so that, in recent years, one of the few voices that regularly mentioned Yemen was that of Pope Francis.
The late pontiff would have probably made another appeal today at the end of the Wednesday audience to speak out against the umpteenth massacre of the marginalised.
Soon after the latest attack, a media outlet close to the Houthi rebels reported that the air raid hit a detention centre for irregular migrants, killing at least 68.
A UN spokesperson reported the story, stressing that, at the end of preliminary an inquiry with information from the ground, the dead include migrants and non-combatant members of the pro-Iranian movement that controls part of the country.
The United States neither confirmed nor denied this version of events, adding that some reports and stories are being vetted about possible civilian casualties.
According to an official Pentagon statement released yesterday, the US claims to have hit over a thousand targets since the beginning of its latest military campaign in mid-March against the Houthis in response to missile launches towards Israel and attacks against vessels in the Red Sea.
This intense series of attacks saw the participation of the United Kingdom, as noted by the UK Ministry of Defence, which reported that Royal Air Force planes hit and destroyed several buildings last night at a site some 25 km south of Sana'a, used to manufacture drones.
Houthi operations in recent months have targeted and interrupted – or at least severely hindered – maritime traffic in the Suez Canal, a vital route for about 12 per cent of global trade.
The rebels say they want to target boats in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel launched a devastating war in response to the Hamas terror attack on 7 October 2023.
Despite statements and opposing claims, the recent massacre of migrants involved unarmed victims who had no warning before missiles reached its target, this according to local officials.
“This was a facility holding vulnerable people, not combatants,” said Yasser Al Jaberi, a Yemeni journalist based in Sana’a. “The strike at the detention centre was a brutal crime, and the absence of accountability only deepens the pain. These people had no escape, no protection – just silence and fire.”
“Today, the feelings of the Yemeni people are practically dead; most are living a slow death, either from hunger or under aerial bombardment,” Al Jaberi explained. “The conditions are extremely dire, and these strikes now provoke only deep resentment and sorrow among the people.”
Amid all this, international aid is no longer arriving.
Between the dream of a better life and the harsh reality of war, dozens of African migrants have been killed in a “senseless massacre” by the United States and its Western allies.
Their death underscores their journey, not without dangers, from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, with the hope – often in vain – of reaching the Gulf.
The detention centre that was hit late on Sunday housed about 115 African migrants, mainly Ethiopians, who were trying to reach Saudi Arabia to find a better life and work opportunities.
Footage broadcast by the Houthi al-Masirah satellite channel showed bodies strewn across the rubble, survivors bearing visible wounds and scorched debris littering the site.
For a long time, migrants have suffered during Yemen's civil war, often trapped between warring factions, their journey marked by extreme violence, uncertainty and danger.
Migrants risk drowning while crossing the Red Sea or the Gulf of Aden, says Bram Frouws, director of the Mixed Migration Centre (MMC). They face labour exploitation, trafficking, kidnapping for ransom, sexual violence and torture at the hands of traffickers and armed groups once they arrive in Yemen. Many women, Frouws adds, have disappeared upon arrival.
In recent years, human rights organisations, including Human Rights Watch and MMC, have documented the killing of hundreds of Ethiopian migrants by Saudi border guards along the Saudi-Yemen border. Those who do make it to Saudi Arabia often face further hardships, including wage theft, forced labour, abuse, sexual violence and even death.
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11/08/2017 20:05
