In conjunction with the second anniversary of signing Stockholm Agreement, I was with a team from Mwatana for Human Rights visiting Hudaydah to see what the situations are like in the coastal city (on the west of the capital, Sana’a), in which the deteriorating humanitarian situations prompted the UN towards the conclusion of the well-known agreement.
We arrived at the northern entrance to the city, at 11:00 a.m., on Friday, December 11, 2020, where it greeted us with small red warning signs reading “Danger – Mines” installed on piles of dirt on either side of the new narrow entry road that only allows one car to pass. By then, we had traveled 226 kilometers of exhausting trip from the capital, Sana’a, to the west.
In the last part of the road, the pedestrian is forced to take a secondary road as the main roads leading into the city were blocked by huge containers and piles of dirt. These warning signs were installed on both sides of the road after the incidents of mines planted by the Ansar Allah group (Houthis) have claimed civilian lives. Mwatana for Human Rights documented at least two incidents in the same area.
Kilo 16 (K-16) Area
In the K-16 area, which is the eastern entrance to the city, the main road is completely blocked with containers, and on the western edge of it lies the rest of the city at its agonies. The amputated road became terrifying and empty, while it was teeming with life and people.
“There were people here, there was a folk here,” says the driver. All the peripheral neighborhoods were almost empty, except for the sounds of shells and gunshots on an almost daily basis.
In normal times, Yemenis would look to the sky of this coastal city from its entrances, yearning for its vast sea and dreaming of its gentle winter breeze, yet what you see after all these years of war is the opposite of what you look forward to.
The city, in which the sewerage systems were disrupted, became overwhelmed with sewage, and its asphalt roads are dilapidated. It can be seen how the Ansar Allah group (Houthis) dug trenches and barricades at the main intersections leading into the city to prevent the UAE-backed joint forces from advancing.
In early 2018, these forces had controlled over a big area along the southern coast of the city, but stopped in its suburbs, after international pressure prevented a humanitarian catastrophe, especially since this vital sea port represents a pathway for more than 70 percent of the international aid and assistance that the country receives.
However, instead of leading to a comprehensive solution to spare the city the disaster as per the Stockholm Agreement signed by the parties under the auspices of the United Nations in the winter of 2018, the warring parties were keen to lay accusations against each other, in order to disavow the fulfillment of their obligations, which kept restrictions on the movement of civilians ongoing. In addition, large parts of the peripheral neighborhoods were left at the mercy of sporadic clashes.
It can be seen how civilians are forced to travel long distances on foot to bypass the barriers placed in the way of vehicles at the entrances. Unofficial talks say that the trenches created by the Ansar Allah group to prevent the advance of their opponents’ forces constitute to the leakage of overflowing sewage water into the sea, which may cause environmental damage to the population and marine creatures that represent their source of livelihood.
Al-Rabasah Neighborhood
At the southern entrance, we passed by groups of people, who seem to have poverty features, taking the wall fence corners of “Amin Muqbel residential compound” as a place to live, despite the danger of that area to their lives.
We passed along the wall fence towards Al-Rabasah neighborhood, one of the poor and miserable neighborhoods of the stricken city. The houses of this neighborhood are made of tin and hollow bricks, and adjacent to each other in a random manner. This area is surrounded on two sides by a wall fence of Hudaydah International Airport, which was one of the most vital government installations before the war.
The neighborhood is also adjacent from the west to Hudaydah University and Tihama Development Authority, which are two vital service facilities, but now, they are located within the clashes’ zones. Shells and live ammunition exchanged by both warring parties are frequently fall into these facilities and adjacent neighborhood.
In 2020, Mwatana for Human Rights documented at least one incident in which civilians, including children, were killed in this neighborhood, specifically near An-Najah School, which is crowded with male and female students as well as IDPs fled the area of airport street and nearby neighborhoods due to the clashes.
On the sixth of last October, three shells fell in a yard where children and young men used to play football behind the school. A child and an adult were killed, and six others were injured, including four children.
One of the witnesses to Mwatana said, “Two shells fell first, so young people and children gathered to see what happened, and less than half an hour later, the third shell fell, causing deaths and injuries.”
He added, “I saw the shell coming from the direction of Tihama Development Authority in the west, one of the seam lines between Ansar Allah and the Giants Brigade Forces (southern UAE-backed forces). We were in the neighborhood hearing the sounds of shells since the previous night.”[1]
On Saturday, September 26, 2020, in the same neighborhood, also, a projectile fell on the “residential compound”, killing two little girls, Dalia (8 years old) and Maram (15 years old), and severely injuring three others, Noura (17 years old), Nada (27 years old) and Fatimah (50 years old).
Witnesses in the area said that the source of the projectile was probably the eastern, where the UAE-backed joint forces are positioned.
With the fact that these areas are subject to the dire effects of the battles, it seems that everything that moves here is a source of attention catching, while any strange presence stirs the curiosity of the eyes of few residents of the area… The cautious calm prevails in these abandoned neighborhoods, although describing such places as “Calm” is misguided, as this term reflects a call to reassurance.
In every residential space here there is a dead or wounded, hungry or needy. While, the battle fronts are still witnessing intermittent clashes from time to time, and herald more misfortunes and victims among people who decided – for their sufficient reasons – to stay in their areas.
(Saddam) Market
To the East; We hardly crossed “Saddam Market”, which is crowded with sellers and buyers. It is a popular market for vegetables, fruits and fish. Here in this place, a young banana seller, Majed Abdullah (20 years old), was killed on March 15, 2020. A 22.7 mm bullet penetrated his back to get out of his thigh while he was carrying out his work in the crowded market at peak time.
Mwatana for Human Rights documented this violation at 12:00 pm on that very hot Sunday.
According to witnesses, the victim was standing with his back to the east, i.e, facing Al-Saleh and Al-Mansari residential compounds, which are front lines in the city. At that time, there was a checkpoint belonging to Ansar Allah group within meters away from the location of the incident. Majed was taken to the hospital, yet, he died there.
Close relatives to Majed told Mwatana that he used to sell bananas for a daily wage that exceeded no more than one dollar (five hundred riyals), so that he could support his young brothers and his helpless father. Some of those who were present in the market at the moment he was injured, said, “We heard the sound of clashes coming from Al-Saleh residential compound area on the east side. We did not expect that a gunshot would reach the market and kill Majed, and we did not know who fired it.”[2]
Although the market could have been a frequent accidental target for these clashes again, it did not close, and it remained open throughout the rest of the day.
Al-Zohour Neighborhood
On the east also, there is Al-Zuhour (flowers) neighborhood. The name of this place no longer refers to flowers, except for its children and young people whose lives are harvested as young as flowers by bullets and shells falling on them every now and then from the battlefronts in their vicinity, especially in the 30th road to the east and 50th road to the south.
We walked down the only entrance to the neighborhood. We came across, on our right, a wooden bed made of palm leaves, on which two armed men in civilian clothes were sitting, and pictures of Ansar Allah group’s dead were affixed to their rifles. On our left, one could see a pile of dust blocking part of the entrance. Purple flowers began to sprout on that pile.
Like the rest of neighborhoods, Al-Zuhour neighborhood has one entrance guarded by armed men affiliated with Ansar Allah group. They fully recognize the people of the neighborhood, and they know whoever enters and leaves the neighborhood and what they want. the neighborhood. The other entrances and exits are blocked to narrow the screws in front of any possible intrusion into the city. We also knew that there are covered watchmen everywhere, monitoring and reporting on every strange or suspicious movement.
Other than that, nothing but skinny Tehami old women in brown features and colorful dresses, staring at us, along with the suspicious calm and silence that covers the disorganized sub-alleys of the miserable neighborhood, accompanied by the rustle of plastic bags that hover with any whirlwind.
Near the fence wall of Al-Zuhour School (a girls’ school), two thin little boys, the eldest of whom was seven years old, were collecting plastic bags, probably for lighting fires in the mud stoves … I got heartbroken.
In the main alley of Al-Zuhour neighborhood, we met one of the residents. He said, “On the day of Eid, a shell fell near the watering point in the neighborhood. Children were killed and their new clothes were stained with blood instead of chocolate. It was a terrible Eid that day, blood and ruin.”
The cost paid by this neighborhood, which is one of the areas close to confrontations, is high. Not only because of the falling shells and bullets by the joint forces, but also the mines excessively laid in residential areas by Ansar Allah group. According to the testimony of residents, the mine-laying continued, even after the signing of Stockholm Agreement, in this area, which is one kilometer from the seam zone.
One does not need any effort to see clearly how this neighborhood full of straw houses, the locally so-called “Oshah”, and near them the city’s sewer basins.
On Saturday noon, December 29, 2018, three girls, Manar (9 years old), Noora (12 years old), and Saadia (16 years old) went out to collect firewood from neighboring farms as usual, but death was lurking them there.
A female eyewitness to Mwatana explained that when the girls were late to return, their families began to search until they found a gunman affiliated with Ansar Allah group at the gate of the farm that the girls went to.
The gunman told the girls’ families that the girls were inside, and that they stepped on a landmine more than two hours ago. There, the people saw these innocent little girls stained with blood and their lower limbs cut off. Another witness narrates the disaster up close, “It was a heartbreaking sight, Manar and Noura were dead, while Saadia was breathing her last.” After this incident, the neighborhood witnessed a large wave of displacement.
7th July Neighborhood
The 7th July neighborhood is divided, in the east, between the two conflicting parties. Therefore, we can say that its people have become trapped between two fires, and that it is the most affected neighborhood of Hudaydah, after it was one of the beautiful and promising neighborhoods in the city before the war.
Unlike most neighborhoods, it is possible to see here spacious and paved streets and multi-storey buildings, but the war did not enable its residents to enjoy this urban boom. So, they were forced to leave the parts that witnessed fierce fighting, while the few preferred to stay and take the risk to guard their houses, apartments, and buildings that have always been part of their long dream of a decent life and stability.
Some of these people have become victims of the shells that fell on the neighborhood, killing and injuring many of them. As for those who were forced to displace by the ferocity of the battles, their properties became barracks for Ansar Allah fighters. At some time, the rest of owners and tenants were obliged to leave their homes by force, under the threat of detaining whoever disobeys the orders. Tragic tales still come out of the mouths:
Here, near one of the stores, a child (little boy) was killed and his father was injured; a child was hit by a bullet while he was in his house… The impacts and marks of shells and bullets on the walls depict the devastation that befell this neighborhood; doors were broken and houses were occupied. People spoke to us, with sorrow and choking voices, about tunnels and passageways being dug inside homes with the help of child soldiers, so that the passage of Ansar Allah group and military vehicles through the houses is as easy as someone crossing a street far from sight.
Al-Zafaran Neighborhood
On September 9, 2019, at 9:30 a.m., the middle of Al-Zafaran neighborhood in Al-Hali District, north of the city, witnessed a catastrophic explosion in a warehouse was used by Ansar Allah group as a weapons depot.
In the explosion, two men were killed, and six were injured, including four children. The explosions of the shells lasted for more than an hour. Some shells fell on the houses, destroying at least six of them completely, while other houses were damaged to varying degrees.
One of the survivors told (Mwatana), “We heard the sound of the first explosion, followed by multiple explosions. After that, the houses caught fire, and the shrapnel fell like embers. I was on my bike intending to leave the neighborhood, while a resident stopped me to give him a ride to his house to take some important stuff, including the household gas canister. When we got to his house, he entered the house and I waited for him in the alley. At that time, a huge explosion rang out, and the house collapsed, killing the man.”[3]
The city was also not spared from the air attacks. On November 9, 2020, a warehouse of consumer goods on Gaza Street, in the same district of Al-Hali, was subjected to three airstrikes, destroying it completely. When the owners of the warehouse came to see the damage, less than an hour later, the last airstrike finished the live of one of them and three were injured, including a little girl.
In times of the year when the temperature heat is lethal, and humidity is suffocating, due to the public electricity blackout and the high prices of private electricity fees, the residents of the neighborhood flee the inside of their homes to sleep on their roofs or surroundings at night, which makes them directly vulnerable to shells and bullets fired from the barracks. The neighborhood has already recorded the killing and injuring of many people, whose stories still stuck in the residents’ memories and walls. One of them said, “Here, a woman was killed by an anti-aircraft gun bullet while she was sleeping on the roof.
[1] Mwatana’s interview with a witness, October, 6, 2020.
[2] Mwatana’s interview with a witness, March, 23, 2020
[3] Mwatana’s interview with a witness, September, 17, 2019.
