Yemeni children mourn classmate killed by Houthis
Outrage after fallout from strike by militia on ammunition depot kills innocent civilians
Dozens of schoolchildren in Yemen held a symbolic funeral on Thursday for a classmate killed in a missile strike by the Iran-backed Houthi militia.
Romoush Saleh Amer, 17, a student at the Safea school for internally displaced people in the central city of Marib, was one of four people killed in the attack on Tuesday.
At Thursday’s symbolic event, Amer’s classmates wept over a casket containing his books and notes, and carried placards mourning their friend. “The Houthis deprived us of our friend Romoush. Where is our right to safety?” one sign read. “Chilpoor
dren were tormented and intimidated by the Houthis. The Houthis took away our schooling,” read another.
The Houthi missile strike on Tuesday targeted a military installation in
Marib city. One missile hit an ammunition depot, launching rockets and other projectiles into the sky. Amer and the three other victims died when stray rockets landed in a camp for internally displaced people.
The attack provoked outrage from rights groups and activists in Marib, which has become a haven for thousands of civilians during the war.
The SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties in Geneva said the Houthis had fired more than 115 ballistic missiles and 140 other rockets at the city of Marib since the beginning of the conflict, killing 255 civilians, including 25 children and 12 women, and injuring 445 others, including 47 children and 10 women.
“The bombings and threats against the city of Marib have put millions of residents in danger, given the ongoing deterioration of the humanitarian situation and the performance of UN programs owing to a lack of money,” the organization said.
The Medecins Sans Frontieres medical charity urged warring parties in Yemen not to conduct military operations near civilian areas.