DEATH FROM ABOVE
Every Saudi coalition air raid on Yemen
Last updated: 25 March 2019

DEATH FROM ABOVE
Every Saudi coalition air raid on Yemen
Armed with US-made bombs and British-made fighter jets, Saudi Arabia and its allies have been waging a ruinous war on Yemen for the last four years.
Since they intervened in the country’s civil war on March 26, 2015, more than 19,000 raids have been carried out in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country.
When the aerial campaign commenced, expectations were high that the coalition assembled by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman would crush the alliance of Houthi rebels and army forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh within a matter of weeks.
But after nearly four years of fighting, and an estimated 60,000 deaths, the coalition has failed to pave the way for the recapture of the capital, Sanaa, and most urban centres.
Despite assurances by the coalition that all precautionary measures would be taken to avoid civilian casualties, a sizable number of coalition attacks have targeted civilian areas.
According to data collected by the Yemen Data Project, nearly two-thirds of the coalition’s air raids have struck non-military and unknown targets.
Airports, ports, bridges and roads have all been repeatedly attacked.
So, too, have farms, schools, oil and gas facilities, factories and private businesses.
According to rights groups, the coalition has not accidentally attacked civilian infrastructure – it has been doing it deliberately.
Between June and September, when the coalition launched a new offensive on the port city of Hodeidah, fatalities increased by a staggering 164 percent.
Because of these incessant attacks, Yemen’s civilian, economic and medical infrastructures have been pushed to the brink of collapse. Today, Yemen is the site of a horrific civil war, and the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
According to the United Nations, up to 20 million Yemenis, roughly two-thirds of the country’s population, are food insecure.
Thousands of people are starving to death and dying from preventable diseases, while an average of eight civilians die from bombs and bullets every day.
In this interactive, based on data collected by the Yemen Data Project, an air raid refers to a single incident which could comprise multiple attacks.
Because it was not possible to generate an average number as these vary greatly, from one attack up to several dozen, so-called "double taps" have been counted as one air raid, not two.

DEATH FROM ABOVE
Every Saudi coalition air raid on Yemen
Who controls Yemen?





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Four years after the launch of the Saudi-led campaign, the bulk of Yemen’s northern highlands, as well as the capital city of Sanaa, remain under the control of Houthi rebels.
While Hodeidah, home to Yemen’s largest port and the main gateway for food, fuel and humanitarian aid entering the country, has seen a lull in fighting since December after the implementation of a ceasefire agreement between the Yemeni government and Houthi rebels, the violence has continued unabated elsewhere.
In Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, local militias backed by the United Arab Emirates have turned on each other since they expelled Houthi fighters from large sections of the city.
While Yemeni forces backed by the coalition have made notable gains in some areas bordering the kingdom, as well as in Nihm District in the Sanaa Governorate, some 50km east of the capital, more than 15 million Yemenis are still estimated to live under Houthi control.
President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his prime minister, Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed, govern from the port city of Aden, but their government has failed to convene one session of parliament since the war erupted.
They have also failed to contend with a separatist movement in the south that has intensified its calls for an uprising against the internationally-recognised government.
The UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) has repeatedly undermined the government as it seeks to revive the former South Yemen republic which merged with the north in 1990.
At the same time, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has continued to launch deadly attacks but appears to have shifted its priorities.
The armed group has lost large areas of territory it once controlled to UAE-backed militias, however it still operates training camps in some areas of the south and continues to take credit for attacks on Houthi-linked targets.
In July, one of al-Qaeda’s senior leaders, Khaled Baterfi, said his group had reduced attacks against President Hadi and UAE-backed forces because assailing them would benefit the Houthis.
Also in the south, the Yemeni chapter of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) has exploited the security vacuum and claimed responsibility for several attacks against al-Qaeda, Houthi fighters and pro-government troops.

DEATH FROM ABOVE
Every Saudi coalition air raid on Yemen
Air raids in 2015
At the request of Yemen’s internationally recognised Yemeni government, Saudi Arabia formed a military coalition of several Arab nations to assist Yemen’s armed forces in fighting the Houthi rebels.
Although the Saudi-led coalition only intervened in Yemen at the end of March, they carried out more air raids in 2015 than any other year.
The United States, the United Kingdom and Germany, among several other nations, lent their support to the coalition in the form of weapons, intelligence and training.
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The sounds from above
Every slide represents one day of air raids across Yemen. The colour corresponds to the varying levels of intensity.
Speed: 1×1.5x2x

Summary of air raids in 2015
Total raids: 5,431
Most intense day: September 6 – 50 raids
Average raids per day: 19