Yemeni civilians about the Saudi war

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This video from the USA says about itself:

U.S.-Backed Saudi Coalition Bombs School, Hospital In Yemen

15 August 2016

In this video, Rachel Blevins looks at the recent civilian casualties in Yemen at the hands of the U.S.-backed Saudi led coalition, and questions why the U.S. still considers Saudi Arabia a close ally?

Translated from Dutch NOS TV today, interviewing Yemeni civilians:

“I have no home, no job any more and my wife is depressed.” Muhajed worked as a communications expert until he was fired in 2015. “My boss, the World Bank, left Yemen when the war began. Like all other international organizations.”

But the problems started earlier. A few weeks before he was sacked his home was destroyed by bombing. “It was 02:00 at night and everyone was asleep. Until we heard the first bomb. We all woke up and went to the living room.”

Son struck

It was not long before the second and third bomb struck. “The windows sprung open, broken. Our children began to cry and suddenly my son started screaming.”

His 8-year-old son was hit in the leg. “He was bleeding a lot. We could not help him, because the whole room was filled with gas, we could barely breathe.” Muhajed ran to his neighbors, who quickly brought his son to a hospital. His leg was broken. “He was unable for 45 days to do anything at all.”

That incident had a major impact on Muhajed’s wife. “That day has traumatized her so much that she became depressed. She now takes antidepressants.”

Because Muhajed then lost his job, they could not afford reconstruction of their home. Now they have lived for months with friends. “We now live with two families in one house. It can not be otherwise.”

28-year-old Laila last year had enough of the war. She fled to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. Only when she was there, she could not let go of Yemen. “How can I live here if I have to worry constantly about my loved ones in Sanaa?” she wondered. So she did something that nobody understood: she went back.

“Sanaa has always had my heart in what circumstances whatsoever. The war has just destroyed a lot,” says Laila. “It’s horrible to lose that sense of security and always having to worry that your loved ones may get hurt.”

Too scared to sleep

“My little brother Anas (7) asked me recently: “Why is my life filled with war, instead of games? I want to play with toys, not with fear.” When he said this, it reminded me of so much pain. Children in Sanaa are afraid, they are afraid to go to sleep for fear that they will not wake up. ”

Laila is studying International Studies in Sanaa and works as a consultant. Salary is not paid almost anywhere. “There are two banks in Sanaa, but there is no money to pay the workers. Yemen is going through the consequences of the war, losing an entire generation.”

The student is particularly afraid of the economic consequences of the war, but she is also afraid of the bombing. “In recent weeks, a hospital, a school and a factory have been bombed.”

There were hundreds of deaths in a bombing at a funeral. “That was a bomb fired by Saudi Arabia. They said later that they had hit the wrong target, and apologized. But that apparently was not sincere, because that same day they killed even more people by bombs. They do not want to stop that, because our blood is not worth anything to them.”

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