Saudi Airstrikes Target Yemen Funeral Home, Killing 155

Over 500 Reported Wounded in Attack

Saudi warplanes attacked a funeral home in the Yemeni capital city of Sanaa today, killing at least 155 people and wounding over 500 others. Some reports, still awaiting confirmation, suggested the death toll had exceeded 200. This marks the single largest incident of civilian deaths in the Saudi war, topping a previous incident in which 131 were killed at a wedding.

The attack targeted the funeral of the father of the Houthi Interior Minister Jalal al-Rowaishan. It is unclear if the interior minister was present at the time of the attack, though the mayor of Sanaa was present and confirmed killed in the attack.

Saudi Arabia attacked Yemen in early 2015, aiming to oust the Houthis and reinstall former President Hadi, who had resigned earlier that year. The war has escalated far beyond what anyone expected, with many thousands of civilians killed, the vast majority of them by Saudi airstrikes.

This has added pressure to the nations supplying Saudi Arabia with its arms, in particular the US and Britain, and while so far Congress has rejected measures to scale back arms sales to the Saudis, every such incident adds to the pressure from voters and human rights groups to stop providing the bombs that are used in such war crimes.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.