In Yemen, mosques provide no sanctuary from Saudi Arabia’s airstrikes
Abu Jebreel Haidan holds a tattered Quran, found in the rubble of the mosque bombed in Sawad, Yemen. Photo by Ahmed Ali.
SAWAD, Yemen — Saleh Jerwan spent Sept. 22 working on his farm with his family before he joined some neighbors in the afternoon to relax and chew khat leaves. He headed home before sunset.
"In the evening, warplanes were heard hovering over the area," said Abu Jebreel Haidan, who was at the gathering.
Farmland in Sawad, Yemen. Photo by Ahmed Ali.
At about 10 p.m., planes from the Saudi-led coalition carried out two airstrikes in the hills overlooking the spot where Jerwan and his family were living.
Their home was seasonal, as were others in this area where nomadic farmers come to work their land each summer and fall until they return to their village. Jerwan, 32, and his wife Badeia Mujalli, 30, nine months pregnant, were preparing for the birth of their fifth child. Their four children ages 1 to 5 and Jerwan’s 60-year-old mother Ghania Saaban were there too.
Seeing the explosions in the hills, Haidan moved to find a spot that felt more secure. He didn’t see Jerwan or his family. After midnight, a third strike hit much closer, in the valley. It was a direct hit on a small mosque that was about 150 meters from the family’s home. The mosque was obliterated.
Jerwan and his entire family were inside. All seven were killed.
"He thought it was the only place that would not be targeted," said Haidan, who visited the site two days after the attack.
The United Nations condemned the strike the next day.
“For these tragedies to have occurred during the UN General Assembly, when world leaders come together to advance peace and security, is profoundly disturbing,” said Lise Grande, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Yemen.
More than 1,000 mosques in Yemen have been damaged or destroyed by airstrikes since the conflict began in 2015, according to the Yemeni Ministry of Religious Endowments and Guidance. Many of the mosques are heritage sites.
Shia mosques in Houthi-controlled territory have been deliberately targeted by suicide bombings and airstrikes carried out by the Saudi-led coalition. With its allies in the region, and support from the U.S., the majority-Sunni country has waged war almost exclusively from the air against the Houthi rebels. The Houthi movement is primarily Shia and receives support from predominantly Shia Iran.
Saudi Arabia’s stewardship of the Islamic holy sites of Mecca and Medina is central to its status as the most powerful Arab state. But that role doesn’t translate to respect for religious sites in areas controlled by its enemies. Instead, bombings like the one in Sawad suggest a strategy that targets mosques and other culturally important sites because of their significance to the civilian population.
The site of the Sawad mosque is now in ruins. Photo by Ahmed Ali.
Susan Hannah Allen, a researcher at the University of Mississippi who studies air power, said that Saudi reliance on airstrikes is typical of states with superior military capabilities. Ground incursions into Yemen have been few, which suggests that the Saudis do not feel the conflict is politically important enough to risk many Saudi casualties, Allen said.
“As the conflict persists, the likelihood of more ground actions increases,” she added.
Air power is traditionally used to damage an opponent’s ability to fight. Saudi Arabia has targeted ancient areas of Sana’a protected by UNESCO, hospitals run by aid agencies and funerals. Such strikes suggest a strategy that is meant to punish the population into pressuring their government to change its policies, Allen said.
The U.S. began supplying weapons and logistical support to the Saudi air campaign under President Barack Obama. The House of Representatives passed a resolution in April to end that support as the scale of the war’s destruction and the U.S.’ role in it became more known and unpopular. President Donald Trump vetoed the resolution. The move was upheld by the Senate, with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell saying that ending support would alienate U.S. allies in the region.
There are almost 30 million people in Yemen. More than 20 million rely on international aid to survive the dire economic and health conditions that the Saudi blockade has produced. Ten million Yemenis subsist entirely on that aid. The 2019 Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan required $4.2 billion to provide it. The U.N. says the crisis is unprecedented and the worst in the world.
Jerwan’s farm is in the Harf Sufyan district of Amran Governorate, a jurisdiction in the northwest corner of Yemen. The Al Sawad valley where the family was killed is encircled by mountains. It’s a difficult location to reach, accessible only by rough roadways that wind through the topography. Most men in the area carry guns.
Jerwan is survived by a brother who lives in another valley in Harf Sufyan. A call to him did not go through; his area is too remote and has no cellular coverage.
Days after the strike, two donkeys and a dog roamed the empty farm. The nearby mosque had been about six meters square. Nothing remains of the structure. There is only a deep crater to mark the spot. A mangled Quran sat propped on the branches of a nearby tree, apparently placed there.
Fourteen more houses dot the landscape around the site. All appear uninhabited. Back on the main road outside the valley is another mosque. A man there said he knew Jerwan’s father, who built the mosque about 10 years ago.
The elder Jerwan had elected to build the mosque with his own money and help from locals instead of a comfortable house for his family, said the man, who declined to give his name. Jerwan’s father wanted to provide it to the community for years to come.
With father and son dead, the man said he didn’t expect the valley would get another mosque.
“Who will build a mosque amid this war?” he said.
Ahmed Ali is a pseudonym to protect this reporter’s security. Micah Danney is a 2019-2020 Poynter-Koch fellow reporting for Religion Unplugged.