Yemen: Saudi Attacks on Water Facilities in Sa’ada ‘War Crime’ amid Severe Shortages

According to reports, late on Tuesday, Saudi warplanes conducted three airstrikes on reservoirs of Sa’ada City’s water project in the Talmous water station.

Speaking from the attack site, the deputy minister of Water and Environment Hanin al-Darib said on Wednesday, “These tanks and this institution provide 130,000 civilians with water supply.”

Al-Darib told al-Masirah news network that the attacks came amid a severe fuel shortage in the country, which has aggravated the suffering of residents of Sa’ada City.

The official stressed that the drinking water project was a civilian facility, urging international organizations to fulfill their responsibilities towards the women and children in Sa’ada.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Jaber Awad, the governor of Sa’ada, stated that “the Talmous water station is the sole station that supplies the displaced people, the needy, and resident of Sa’ada City and its suburbs with drinking water.”

Awad said the city has a population of more than 200,000 people who were benefiting from this project.

He urged the United Nations and human rights groups to condemn the Saudi targeting of water fields and resources that provide the residents of Sa’ada city with safe drinking water.

Mohammad al-Sa’adi, the head of the government corporation of water and sanitation, slammed the attack as “a cowardly action,” noting that “the city is down now,” while Hamid Mohmal, the deputy head of Human Council in Sa’a’da, condemned the attack on the facilities that provide water for 45,000 families as a “war crime.”

Mohmal urged international organizations to denounce the crime and urgently respond to the damage.