EuroNews.com: [EXCLUSIVE] The village turned to rubble in Yemen’s “forgotten war”

From: Berhane Habtemariam <Berhane.Habtemariam_at_gmx.de_at_dehai.org>
Date: Wed, 18 May 2016 00:25:14 +0200

[EXCLUSIVE] The village turned to rubble in Yemen’s “forgotten war”

As part of the mission covering the war in Yemen, Euronews correspondent Mohammed Shaikhibrahim visited the historic village of Attan Fort. It was built by the ancient Yemenis or people who are known as “the Montagnards” in Yemen.

It is located above Attan Faj mountain, overlooking the Yemeni capital Sanaa and has had few visits from the media.

The historic houses have not been spared from the war which has been raging in Yemen for more than a year and a half with houses inhabited by women and helpless children being bombed.

Attan Fort was one of the first villages to be destroyed in this war; the area witnessed intensive airstrikes by the Allied Forces because it was claimed it contains weapon stores that belong to the Yemeni Army.

Many of the houses in the village have been turned into dust, dozens of men women and children have been critically injured by shrapnel, bombs and rocks that came at them from each and every direction.

“Bombs were showering the village, rocks and shrapnel were falling over us, my leg was injured and so was my hand and head, also half of my friends – children – were injured,” said one villager.

Euronews correspondent, Mohammed Shaikhibrahim reported from Attan Fort: “People have come to this historic village because of their poverty, they were trying find secure homes for their families, but now they’re threatened with the same destiny and so depart to escape the airstrikes that destroyed some of the village’s houses leaving some of its inhabitants homeless again!”

There are around 53 poor Yemeni families who live in this village, and they’re known in the capital as among the poorest. They suffer from very difficult living conditions.

A large number of the children are suffering from diseases as a result of the village lacking a health centre, food and clean water after all the water tanks were destroyed. That adds to their suffering as they have to search for clean water to bring back to their stricken village as one of the men explained.

“People in this village are suffering a lot, they’re victims of this war, lost between the two sides, no humanitarian aid organisation has ever reached us, even the media hasn’t come to cover what’s going on and the destruction we’re living in so that at least the world would see what the war is doing to us, though this village was the first one to get destroyed in Yemen since the fighting started.”

Another said: “There were heavy explosions in the nearby weapons dump as it was targeted by airstrikes. Bombs and missiles were flying all over our heads … our houses were destroyed .. You can see all the destruction, we had nothing in the first place and no one cares about us!”

The people in this village are just a few of the millions of poor Yemenis, victims of this forgotten war that has turned their daily lives from poverty to hunger. As a result of the complete collapse of the economy and the infrastructure, and also the land,air and sea blockade their lives have turned into a living hell.

Received on Tue May 17 2016 - 18:25:15 EDT

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