Bombings, Casualties Surge in Escalation of Saudi Air War in Yemen

Strikes focus on Maarib, Saada

The latest monthly data out of Yemen shows what everyone following the country already knows, the air war is bad, and rapidly getting worse, with data showing air raids surging across the country.

Maarib and Saada Provinces have seen the highest numbers of strikes recently, though in the past few weeks, a lot of other areas are getting hit as well. Hodeidah saw its highest number of strikes since the 2018 deal.

In the course of November, some 29 civilian casualties were reported. This is, of course, just an estimate, but would be the highest monthly figure since Mid-2020.

That’s a surprisingly low number when compared with the huge average of 30 airstrikes per day and the estimate that 28% of all airstrikes hit identifiable civilian targets.

It is also likely not the case, as the airstrikes against the capital of Sanaa picked up substantially recently. While those are all nominally aimed at military targets, many were right in the middle of densely populated areas, and it’s not clear how many civilians may have been killed.

After all, Saudi Arabia admonished the civilians to avoid being around military targets, but many of the claimed military targets were alleged secret underground tunnels and the like, things the civilians couldn’t have known about.

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.