HRITC documented 1,488 violations against civilians in Taiz during the past year 2020
Taiz:
Human Rights Information and Training Center – HRITC released its annual report, during which it documented the occurrence of 1,488 violations affecting civilians in Taiz Governorate during the past year 2020 AD, the Houthi militia, classified by the US State Department as a terrorist organization, mostly committed directly.
HRITC said in a press statement today that according to the information and data collected and confirmed by the field team, the Houthi militia directly caused 1,019 violations, and armed men outside the state caused 239 violations, while individuals affiliated with multiple factions in the government army caused 121 violations. Unidentified gunmen caused 93 violations.
The joint forces on the western coast of Tariq Saleh also caused 11 violations, and 5 violations occurred as a result of clashes between armed men outside the framework of the state and members of the army and security forces.
The right to life:
The centre’s field team documented the killing of 211 civilians, including 42 children and 29 women, the Houthi militia killed about 117 civilians, including 31 children and 22 women, about 60 civilians, including 17 children and 14 women, were killed as a result of their direct targeting with various heavy and medium shells that fall almost daily on most neighbourhoods and regions. Residential areas in the city and several districts and rural areas.
This was followed by the killing of 21 civilians, including two children, by direct bullets, and 16 civilians, including 5 children and two women, were killed by direct sniping by snipers belonging to the Houthi militia in the places and military barracks that the militia had taken in nearby places it controlled.
Besides, about 6 civilians, including 5 women and a child, were killed by the explosion of mines and 3 civilians, including two children, as a result of the explosive devices that the militia continues to plant in roads, neighbourhoods, homes, farms and other areas in large networks and randomly.
The Houthi militia killed 4 civilians, including 3 children and a woman, by burning, as well as executing 3 civilians, torturing 3 others, including a child, to death, and assassinating only one civilian.
Militants outside the state, concentrated in the liberated areas of the Houthi militia, killed 56 civilians, including 5 women and 4 children, killing 48 civilians, including 4 women and 3 children, with direct bullets, and 4 civilians, including a child, were killed as a result of these factions’ clashes with each other, and two civilians were killed. As a result of the explosion of an explosive device, gunmen executed a civilian, while a woman was run over by a military crew led by armed men outside the framework of the state.
Meanwhile, military and security personnel belonging to several partisan and regional factions killed 20 civilians, including 5 children and two women, 12 of whom were killed, including two children and a woman, by direct bullets, and 4 others, including two children and a woman, were killed by artillery shelling, and 3 civilians were killed as a result of clashes between those various factions, while a child was killed. One in an explosion inside one of the army camps.
Unidentified persons killed about 18 civilians, including two children and a woman. About 15 civilians were killed by direct bullets, and two of them were killed by a grenade exploding. A woman was also killed by hanging and burning by unknown gunmen.
Militants outside the state’s framework participated with the security committee in killing 9 civilians, while members of the government army killed about 18 civilians, 14 of them were killed by direct bullets, another civilian was assassinated, two children were run over with two military suits, and a civilian was killed as a result of torture.
Injuries:
The Human Rights Information and Training Center – HRITC documented the injury of 496 civilians, including 117 children and 60 women. The Houthi militia caused 292 civilian casualties, including 85 children and 50 women, as the various shells killed 198 civilians, including 56 children and 32 women.
Snipers injured about 43 civilians, including 14 children and 14 women, and 24 civilians, including 6 children and two women, were wounded by direct bullets, while 22 civilians, including 9 children and two women, were injured by mines and 5 other civilians as a result of IEDs planted by the militia.
Militants outside the state’s borders injured 94 civilians, including 13 children and 7 women, 76 of them were injured by direct bullets, including 10 children and 7 women, and 8 civilians were wounded by an explosive device, and 7 civilians, including 3 children, were hit by crews of armed men belonging to different factions outside the state. And 3 others were wounded as a result of the assault on them.
59 civilians, including 11 children and 3 women, were wounded by individuals and factions in the government army, 35 civilians, including 4 children and two women, were wounded by direct bullets, and 13 civilians, including 3 children and a woman, were wounded during the clashes, and 8 others, including 3 children, were wounded in artillery shelling, while others were wounded. 3 civilians, including a child, as a result of the assault and beating.
Unidentified gunmen injured 46 civilians, including 7 children, as 22 civilians, including 3 children, were injured in the explosion of an explosive device, and 20 civilians, including 3 children, were wounded by direct bullets, while 3 civilians were stabbed with a white weapon and a child was wounded as a result of an attempted kidnapping.
Also, 5 civilians, including one child, were wounded in clashes between members of the army, security forces and armed men outside the state.
Kidnapping and enforced disappearance:
HRITC monitored 76 cases of kidnapping and enforced disappearance.
Militants outside the state’s borders caused 30 cases of kidnapping and enforced disappearance, and the Houthi militia caused 23 cases, and the joint forces of Tariq Saleh committed 11 cases of kidnapping and enforced disappearance, and 7 cases committed by members of the army and security forces and 5 cases of unknown gunmen were documented.
Arrests:
The field team of the Center documented 57 cases of arrest of civilians during the year 2020, including 50 detainees by the Houthi militia, 30 men and 20 women were arrested collectively, while 3 others were arrested by the army and government security, and 3 others were arrested by unknown gunmen while they were arrested One civilian by armed men outside the framework of the state.
Assaults:
The field team of the HRITC documented 20 cases of attacks against civilians in Taiz Governorate during the reporting period, 11 of them were committed by militants outside the state, and members of the government army and security forces committed 7 cases, including one collective, while unknown gunmen committed one case and the Houthi gunmen committed another case.
Displacement and forced displacement:
The centre’s field team monitored 174 cases of forcible displacement committed by the Houthi militia. In March, 46 people from the marginalized group were displaced to the displacement camp in the Tor Al-Baha district centre, who fled their homes near the military confrontations between the Houthi militia and government forces in the village of Habour Al-Aqrad, south of the city, and 128 families In October, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Freedom of speech :
The Human Rights Information and Training Center team monitored the occurrence of 23 cases of violation of freedom of opinion and expression during the reporting period, armed men outside the state committed 13 cases, while members of the government army, security and local authority committed 6 other cases, and unknown gunmen committed 3 cases and the Houthi militia committed one case.
Child rape:
HRITC team also documented two cases of rape of children by armed individuals affiliated with the Houthi militia in August, which were revealed by activists and the Siyaj organization.
Public and private property:
The field team was able to monitor the damage of 429 public and private properties, including 29 public and 400 private properties, as 18 public properties were damaged by the Houthi militia, most of them as a result of the bombing of public hospitals, such as Al-Thawra Hospital, Leprosy Hospital, Al-Amal Hospital for Cancer Patients and Al-Safwa Hospital, in addition to schools as a school 7 July, Al-Mithaq School, Al-Shaheed Al-Thalaya School, and the College of Arts, which intensified their violent bombardment at the start of the school year, directly targeting students as they went to schools, and the mosques and memorization houses affiliated to it, as well as the Teachers Institute and Al-Ahly Club, were not excluded from this.
The team documented 8 cases in which public buildings were damaged by army and security personnel as a result of storming and looting, including the health office, court, training and rehabilitation institute, and a power station.
In addition, gunmen outside the state’s borders stormed and damaged 3 public buildings, including a school, and stormed Al-Thawra Hospital.
While 341 private properties owned by the Houthi militia were damaged, 31 owned by militants outside the framework of the state, 17 owned by unknown armed men and 11 owned by members of the army and security forces.
Concerning private property, about 18 houses were completely damaged by the bombing of the Houthi militia, while 143 houses were partially damaged, the militia bombing caused damage to 134 of them, and armed men outside the state caused partial damage to 6 homes, as well as unidentified gunmen partially damaged two houses as well. Members of the army caused one house to be partially damaged by shelling and direct bullets.
The Houthi militia blew up 19 homes and destroyed 14 other homes, and 10 houses were burned, 8 of them by unknown persons, one by armed men outside the framework of the state and the other by the Houthis, and 15 houses were stormed and looted, 8 of them by members of the government army and 4 by The Houthis, two houses were stormed and looted by unknown gunmen, while one house was looted by armed men outside the framework of the state.
Among the private property, the Houthi militia destroyed 35 vehicles, and 83 private vehicles were partially damaged, causing 64 of them to be damaged by the Houthi militia, and armed men outside the state’s borders damaged 16 vehicles, and unidentified gunmen damaged two vehicles and caused damage to one vehicle.
Besides, 6 vehicles were burned, 4 of them by armed men outside the framework of the state and 2 by unknown gunmen, and 3 vehicles were looted by each of the armed men outside the framework of the state and the unknown and the Houthi militia.
The field team of the Human Rights Information and Rehabilitation Center documented damage to 54 other private properties, of which the Houthi militia caused damage to 51 of them, and armed men outside the state’s borders damaged two, while members of the army caused only one damage.
Mass massacres:
The report touched on the bloody massacres committed by the Houthi militia, as it documented the occurrence of 8 massacres through its direct bombardment of densely populated residential neighbourhoods, which resulted in the killing of 28 civilians, including 8 children and 8 women, and the wounding of 33 civilians, including 7 women and 5 children.
These massacres concentrated in January and March, with 3 massacres for you, and two in April, which were the most violent in terms of many victims, the majority of whom were women and children. These bloody massacres caused permanent disability and loss of limbs for several injured.
Assassinations:
The Center documented 79 cases of assassination and an assassination attempt of officers and soldiers in the army and government security, in which 23 soldiers and security officers were killed, as armed men outside the state assassinated 17 of them and 4 others were killed in clashes with other members of the army belonging to multiple factions. Unidentified gunmen assassinated a soldier, while the Houthis assassinated a soldier else.
44 soldiers and security and army officers were wounded, 29 of them by armed men outside the framework of the state, 9 others by the Houthi militia, while 4 soldiers were wounded by unidentified gunmen and 2 by members of the army belonging to multiple factions.
While 10 other soldiers and officers survived an assassination attempt, eight of them survived an assassination attempt by unknown gunmen and 2 by armed men outside the framework of the state. 2 security and army personnel were kidnapped, one of them by armed men outside the framework of the state and the other by unknown gunmen.
1/23/2021
