V. Fighting and Civilian Losses in Mid-2008

A fundamental principle of international humanitarian law is the distinction between civilians and combatants.Prohibited are attacks that target civilians or that are indiscriminate in that they do not distinguish between civilians and military objectives.[48] Civilian objects, such as homes, houses of worship, and schools are also protected from attack unless they are being used for military purposes.[49]Pillage is prohibited.[50] Individuals who knowingly or recklessly commit serious violations of humanitarian law are responsible for war crimes.A state has an obligation under international law to investigate alleged war crimes by its forces or committed on its territory, and to prosecute those responsible.[51]

In mid-2008 Human Rights Watch heard numerous accounts of recent fighting, including allegations of government bombing attacks on populated villages and other serious laws of war violations.

Because of the government information blackout, Human Rights Watch was unable to verify these accounts. Displaced persons who witnessed the fighting in different locations gave Human Rights Watch some information regarding specific incidents. Most were reluctant to comment on possible Huthi abuses or criticize the armed group in any way.

One internally displaced person told Human Rights Watch:

Because of the aerial bombardment in the fifth war, about one quarter of Dhahyan town is now destroyed. My family lived in seven houses there, all of which are now destroyed. I have been told by relatives who went back that all public buildings have now been destroyed in Dhahyan. In the last war, in early 2007, the army gave us three days to vacate the town, but this time there was no warning. The shooting and the bombing just started. [52]

Another displaced person now living in Sana said:

The fighting in Dhahyan began on May 11, 2008. I spoke to my brother who fled the town that day. He told me that 10 people who had fled a different place and sought refuge in Dhahyan were killed by aerial bombardment that hit the house they were staying in.[53]

Human Rights Watch spoke with two women from the same displaced family, living in two villages close to each other. According to one:

We were living in two villages near Bani Hushaish district . At the end of May 2008 the government used planes, helicopters and tanks to attack the town. They destroyed our houses and shops. Many people were killed. A five-year-old boy was killed while running away from missiles. An 18-year-old-woman who took care of one of our children was also killed when our house was hit, and two neighbors of ours were shot in front of the mosque by soldiers.

The other woman said:

In the last week of May 2008, government fighter planes and helicopters bombed the nearby mountain for seven hours, so we fled our village, Bait al-Aghrabi, and came to Sana. We went back two weeks later and we found our house totally destroyed. Some villagers had stayed after we left and were killed when the government bombed the village. We then went to the village of al-Shari to stay with family there. After three weeks there the government attacked the village with tanks. We were inside our house. The tanks destroyed the top three floors and we hid for one day and night on the ground floor. It was not safe so we fled again the next day and came back to Sana.[54]

Government aerial bombardment reportedly destroyed many parts Harf Sufyan district, in Amran governorate, 150 kilometers northwest of the capital on the road to Sada.[55] A local journalist who had been to the region told Human Rights Watch that the villages of Ayan, Mijzan, Saifan, and Wajba were completely destroyed and that the nearby village of Haira was bombed for three consecutive days.[56]

An international NGO conducted focus group discussions in IDP camps in Sada town in early August 2008 and found that some IDPs had returned to their home areas during the last week of July 2008, only to find their properties completely destroyed, leaving them with no option but to return to the camps.[57] A community leader from Harf Sufyan confirmed that 1,800 families could not return to their villages because fighting had completed destroyed their houses.[58] In October, some persons remained in camps because their homes were destroyed, despite government pressure for them to return.[59]

In late July 2008, the government created a Sada High Committee for War Damages Assessments to assess war damage to public and private property. During the first week of August 2008, the committee faced difficulties in accessing affected areas after pro-government tribes stopped its convoy and insisted they, and not pro- Huthi villages, should receive priority assistance to repair damaged property in exchange for having fought the Huthis.[60]

In mid-August 2008, in a statement that highlights the politicization of government development assistance in Yemen, the head of the High Committee, Minister of Local Administration Abd al-Qadir Ali Hilal, said that al-Zhahir district, on the border with Saudi Arabia, would receive priority for reconstruction and would benefit from the provision of electricity, water and paved roads, in recognition of the communitys support for the Yemeni army during its fight against Huthi rebels.[61]

Several displaced persons also alleged that government soldiers looted civilian property.A young woman displaced from Bani Hushaish said:

When we went back to our village we saw soldiers looking through our house and other houses. They stole our property in front of our eyes. They also blew up some of the houses that had not been completely destroyed already. When we talked to the soldiers they said to us: If we see any man from your family we will kill him.[62]

A journalist told Human Rights Watch that he had spoken to soldiers from Yemens 21st Armored Division, who boasted about the property they had looted from civilian houses during the 2006, 2007 and 2008 fighting.[63]

In other instances people described their property having been looted but could not ascertain who was responsible.A man from Harf Sufyan town told Human Rights Watch that some of his relatives had returned to the town after the fighting ended to find that their homes had been looted.[64] Another journalist told Human Rights Watch that his family had fled Harf Sufyan town in the second week of May 2008. When they returned after the fighting had died down, they found all of the villages remaining houses had been looted, including furniture, electronic goods and jewelry.[65]

Possible Huthi involvement in looting cannot be dismissed. Two persons separately told Human Rights Watch that in 2004 and 2005, when Huthi fighters moved into a village they would assess the stock of local traders and fix a price for their wares, paying half in advance and the remainder after a battle. One person from a town where fighting had taken place in May 2008 said that the Huthis did not compensate locals. Many interviewees were reluctant to criticize the Huthis, and one person said that locals willingly gave supplies to the Huthis.[66]