By

Vanessa Beeley

21st Century Wire

“The UN embargo/blockade against Yemen and the Yemenis violates Genocide Convention article II (e): Deliberately inflicting on the group, conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.” ~ Prof. Francis A Boyle



Photo collage from Hussain Albukhati, Sanaa, Yemen

These boys are Abdu and Marwan. Their father was Mohammed Nasser Thuknah. These two boys were targeted along with their entire family in Bakil Almir, Hajjah in an area bordering Saudi Arabia.

12 members of their family were massacred in a cluster bomb strike. Their father, mother, siblings and all their close relatives. These two boys survived, alone and without food, shelter or medical assistance for a further two weeks.

When they were eventually found, they were taken to a hospital which was lacking in necessary supplies and equipment to treat their wounds, thanks to the illegal, UN endorsed, Saudi Coalition blockade on Yemen. After two weeks of agony, shock and grief, Abdu and Marwan finally released their fragile hold on life and succumbed to their dreadful wounds. May their souls rest in peace.



Vanessa Beeley Statement to the UNHRC on Saudi Coalition illegal use of Cluster Munitions

The North of Yemen has been the worst hit, all of Saada was declared a military target by Saudi Coalition spokesperson, Brigadier General Ahmed Assiri. This is in direct violation of international laws of war that dictate, civilian and military targets must be clearly differentiated.

Those cluster munitions were supplied by the US. Cluster munitions can contain chemicals such as Napalm or White Phosphorous. The wounds and burns on these children suggest that a chemical agent had been used, particularly when compared to the Vietnam photograph included in the collage.

The US is, by association, a war criminal, they supply these lethal and hideous Cluster Munitions and they are present in the Riyadh command and control centre when targets are chosen. The UK is also an accessory to murder, standing in the same control tower and supplying identified cruise missiles that have been used on civilian structures with no regard for human life.

For further information on the US, UN and UK roles in the Saudi Coalition war of aggression against Yemen please read:

One Year of Bloodshed in Yemen: US and UK are Accomplices in Saudi Coalition War Crimes

Yemen: UN Whitewashing Saudi Coalition War Crimes and International Human Rights Violations

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.” ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower.

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Author Vanessa Beeley is a contributor to 21WIRE, and since 2011, she has spent most of her time in the Middle East reporting on events there – as a independent researcher, writer, photographer and peace activist. She is also a member of the Steering Committee of the Syria Solidarity Movement, and a volunteer with the Global Campaign to Return to Palestine. See more of her work at her blog The Wall Will Fall.

READ MORE YEMEN NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Yemen Files