US Bomb Parts Found After Saudi Mass Casualty Airstrike In Yemen
The media wing for Yemen's Houthi rebels has released what it says is video evidence that US bombs are still being used by the Saudi coalition to attack civilian sites in Yemen.
This after within the past days the Saudis have ramped up their airstrikes, including a bombing over Houthi-held northern Saada province which struck a migrant detention center, leaving at least 80 killed. Separately, airstrikes which hit a youth soccer field in Hodeidah left many casualties. In the past days an estimated over 200 Yemenis have been killed, with international human rights groups condemning the indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas.
A weapon fragment reportedly recovered at the site of a Saudi-led coalition airstrike that killed at least 82 (per MSF) at a detention facility in Saada, #Yemen. Aid agencies and the UN say the facility was used to house migrants. Screenshot from a video released by Houthis. pic.twitter.com/7ffmxNofd7
— Samuel Oakford (@samueloakford) January 22, 2022
Concerning the deadly attack on the detention facility, a mass casualty event which went largely underreported on mainstream US networks, journalist Samuel Oakford details that "A weapon fragment reportedly recovered at the site of a Saudi-led coalition airstrike that killed at least 82 (per MSF) at a detention facility" appears to be from a US-made bomb.
Despite the recovered fragment's manufacturing code clearly pointing to its Raytheon maker, so far it appears that only regional as well as Russian media has been reporting on it Sunday, though the evidence is being examined by a handful of Western journalists and NGOs as well:
Video footage filmed in the aftermath of the airstrike by members of the Houthi rebel movement, which is in conflict with the Saudi-backed government, and shared on YouTube, shows distressing scenes of rescue workers removing bodies from the rubble. At one point, a fragment allegedly from a lethal weapon used in the raid is shown, with part of its identifying text and numbers visible.
"That’s the manufacturer cage code for Raytheon," Marc Garlasco, a military adviser from the Netherlands-based PAX Protection of Civilians NGO wrote on Twitter, referring to the US’ Raytheon Technologies Corporation, one of the world’s largest aerospace and intelligence services suppliers.
That’s the manufacturer cage code for Raytheon #Yemen #Saada @bellingcat @David_Philipps @AzmatZahra @EricSchmittNYT @nickturse @nickschifrin @ABarnardNYT https://t.co/PRGO4biAea
— Marc Garlasco (@marcgarlasco) January 23, 2022
It's certainly not the first time US bombs and fragments have been recovered in Yemen after mass killings via Saudi-UAE-US airstrikes.
However, especially since Biden took office, the US has pledged to withdraw its military from active execution of the war and airstrikes. Biden further campaigned on winding down the Yemen war which has raged since 2015 and taken the lives of hundreds of thousands.
But it appears the US still involved via its steady weapons supplies to its Gulf partners, at a moment that Riyadh is pushing for more resupplies.
