Eight years ago today, the Saudi Arabia-led coalition striked a prison in Abs, killing between 13 to 40 people, including children. “Open sources appear to indicate the casualties included inmates at the detention facility.” Initially, the coalition forces denied the attack, and as always rejected any responsibility. However, in the course of independent investigations carried out by HRW, Saudi Arabia acknowledged the strikes but made contradicting statements regarding the date of the strikes and the nature of the target. They alleged that they had hit a legitimate military target, which harboured Houthi arms. “The Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT) stated it had targeted two weapon depots in Abs on 2015/05/13 that it claims were used by the Houthis. The JIAT also claimed that it did not target nor damage the Abs prison, and that the buildings it targeted were 900 meters and 1,300 meters away from the prison, respectively. We identified what we believe the SLC may believe is the prison in question.”

However, contrary to JIAT claims, “almost all open sources explicitly state that a prison had been bombed in the town of Abs, …. on 2015/05/12, starting sometime between 1515 and 1537 AST, two targets were attacked in the town of Abs.”

Read the full report by Yemen Bellingcat here.

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