Yemen:   Hodeidah Governorate, in western Yemen, has the highest rates of casualties from cluster bombs and mines. On its territory, fierce wars took place between Yemen’s Armed Forces and the US-Saudi aggression with its mercenaries, which did not end with the relative calm that currently exists between the conflicting parties.

Hodeidah governorate includes 26 districts, and it has about 3 million people, most of whom are poor people. It was known as “Yemen’s food basket” due to the fertility of its soil and the abundance of its agricultural crops. However, this food basket was planted by the US-Saudi aggression countries on June 13, 2018 with remnants of death weapons from mines and cluster bombs instead of grain, fruits and vegetables to reap the lives of innocent people. 

There are many sad stories of victims of the US-Saudi remnants of mines and internationally banned death bombs, of which innocent children are usually the most victims in Hodeidah. Despite the many crimes against peaceful people who were known for their good heart, we monitor for you one of the most severe human ordeals witnessed by Hodeidah.

According to the residents, the mines planted by the US-Saudi mercenaries were not intended to impede the progress of the Yemen’s Armed Forces but they were aimed at killing everything that comes alive, including humans, trees, and even animals that the population raises as a source of livelihood for them to sustain during the eight years of hunger imposed by the US-imposed blockade on Yemen. 

These mines and cluster bombs were not intended by the American and British bombs that were dropped on residential neighborhoods, to kill the fighters of the Sana'a forces, as much as their purpose was to kidnap the lives and bodies of the innocence of children, women and the elderly for decades.

During the past 45 days, about 60 civilians were killed and injured in Hodeidah Governorate alone, most of them children, as a result of mines and cluster bomb remnants of war (according to human rights reports).

Last Tuesday, 3 children were killed and 3 other children were injured as a result of the explosion of two mines south of Hodeidah, particularly in the districts of Al-Durayhimi and Hays.

The innocence of childhood makes everything available for play, even with the dangerous and deadly bodies of remnants of war from the mines planted by the aggression, as well as the internationally prohibited bombs that the aggression warplanes dropped in the valleys and neighborhoods. 

Like all the days, the children of the city of Hays went out in an exciting race between them while going to their school, so that they would have the opportunity to receive what they could of knowledge in the remains of their schools that were destroyed by the US-Saudi airstrikes, as well as to have the opportunity to play and have fun by playing football in a field that residents built near the school.

After the end of school time, the children raced towards the field east of Al-Qaqaa School, the ball came out towards a pile of mud, and then the child Muhammad went to fetch the ball. He was surprised to see a strange body next to the ball, and here he called his colleagues, then the child Yaqob went to him with the child Abdulmalik.

The three children of Hays did not comprehend the danger of that deadly body, which does not differentiate between enemy and friend, nor between a child or an elderly person, nor between humans and animals.

As soon as one of the children touched that strange body, a loud explosion shook all over the area and turned everything in the playground into falling rubble, with the bodies of the three children, throwing them covered with blood on the ground.
The silence did not last long after the sound of the explosion, as the children screamed, before the residents of the area rushed in panic to save them, and they rushed the three children to the hospital.

In the emergency room of the hospital, the child, Yaqob, let out a loud cry while he was dying, “Do not amputate my feet... How will I play football without them?”. However, doctors stand helpless in saving his life and the life of his friend, Muhammad, in the operating room, but there is no hope, as the executioner’s sword reached the innocence of childhood and prevented her from obtaining chances of survival in a country that lost most of its health capabilities due to US-Saudi bombing and siege .

The child was not aware that the injuries resulting from that explosive body would not be limited to the amputation of his feet, as much as it would extract his soul and end the story of the innocence of three children who were killed before they completed their game.

In every crime of a child, male or female, who falls victim by the tyranny of the US-Saudi bombs and mines, you will not find sadness overwhelming in the mortuary only; On the contrary, it left behind a story that hurt the hearts of everyone who heard about it.

Source YPA translated by Almasirah English website