Bombing two fuel stations and a gas tank in Yarim, Ibb governorate

• Incident: bombing two fuel stations and a gas tank in Yarim, Ibb governorate
• Attack Type: Air Strike
• Location: Yarim city, Ibb governorate, Kataf area, Yarim district, Ibb governorate
• Date: 31 March 2015
• Time: Between after 2 am local time
• Potential munition: unknown
• Victims: Allegedly 32 killed, including children and women, 81 injured, including children and women
• Allegedly responsible: the Saudi led coalition

Introduction

Two fuel stations and a gas tank were hit by alleged airstrikes at dawn on 31 March 2015, in separate areas of Yarim district, north of Ibb governorate, causing dozens of civilian deaths and injuries, and physical damage in civilian property.

The strikes came when there was a stifling crisis of oil derivatives and cooking gas in Yemen, as the war entered its early days. The demand for oil and gas increased dramatically with the large wave of displacement from cities under military battles, in addition to the military acquisition of the governorates’ shares of oil derivatives for military needs, as well as the Saudi led coalition’s blocking of ships from entering the ports. The prices of oil, diesel and gas rose skyrocketed in “the black market,” casting more suffering on civilians.

About the area

Yarim district is located north of Ibb governorate in central Yemen, on the administrative borders with Dhamar governorate, from which the two main roads that link north and south of Yemen and pass to Al-Dhalie - Aden and Ibb – Taiz. This is the same road through which almost all the Houthi-Saleh military forces passed in the early days of the war when it advanced to the southern governorates as well as the governorate of Taiz.

Figure A200  Satellite image from Google Maps of Yarim city

The incident

On the dawn of 31 March 2015, social media platforms circulated news of civilian casualties in airstrikes attacking gas tanks and fuel stations in separate areas in Yarim district, north of Ibb governorate, as part of a series of air raids launched by the Saudi led coalition, which hit military camps and points of Houthi-Saleh forces. An Amnesty International report documented the incident, stating that 14, including at least 6 civilians, 4 of whom were children, were burned to death in the attacks on the petrol stations. According to Amnesty, the third raid on a transiting fuel tanker ignited at least 3 civilian houses. On YouTube(1,2,3), videos showed burning cars and people gathering around them. In the videos, ambulances sirens can be heard. The videos also showed a big tanker completely burnt with smoke rising from it, charred bodies and a destroyed food carrier where milk cans can be seen on the ground.

Figure A201  Screenshot of a tweet by Saudi AlMnatiq Newspaper

This tweet by Saudi AlMnatiq Newspaper says that coalition forces have just bombed the 15th Infantry Brigade in Zinjibar, raided the 33rd Brigade in Al-Dhalie, and hit two fuel stations in Yarim, Ibb. It does not specify whether the fuel stations were part of a military checkpoint. This is significant because Al-Dhalie (108 km away) is not in very close proximity to Yarim.

Figure A202 Screenshot of a tweet by Boabtalyemen

This tweet states that Operation Decisive Storm warplanes (in reference to the name of the SLC’s military intervention launched in 2015) have bombed the city of Yarim in central Yemen for the first time. It claims there are reports of civilian casualties. 

Date and Time 

The first tweet of this bombing in Yarim found was a tweet by adel amer at 02:21 am. After that, there were reports of civilian casualties and the attacking of gas stations and gas tanks, which indicate that the bombing may have started after 02:00 at dawn.

Figure A203 Screenshot of adel amer tweet

This tweet describes bombing currently happening in Yarim, believed to belong to forces moving towards Kitab (14.7 km southwest of Yarim).

Geolocation of the incident

The attack hit three different locations in Yarim district. One of the strikes hit a gas tank at a military point on the main road in Bab Al Doreen area near the southern entrance to Yarim city, while the other two stations were located in Kataf area in the same district, approximately 10 air kilometers from Yarim city. They are separated by less than 200 meters.

The main road at Bab Al Doreen area:

The location of the impacted site in Bab al-Doreen area was geolocated to the southern entrance to the city of Yarim, at coordinates: 14.278952, 44.365831, based on the visual content in a video published by Youthstand47 on YouTube.

Figure A204 Screenshots from Youthstand47 YouTube video, and a satellite image from Google Earth

Station 1

The station was located in Kataf area, south of Yarim district at coordinates: 14.206555, 44.311842, based on the visual content in a video posted by Yarim Youth Forum on Facebook.

Figure A205 Panoramic photo from Yarim Youth Forum video on Facebook and a satellite image from Google Earth

Station 2

The station was located in Kataf area, south of Yarim District, at coordinates: 14.208391, 44.314509, based on the visual content in the aerial footage of the attack, by Abdul-Rahman Qaid Al-Hajari’s YouTube channel 

Figure A206 Screenshots from Abdul-Rahman Qaid Al-Hajari’s YouTube video, and a satellite image from Google Earth of the station shown in the video

Potential ammunition

Unknown. As of the time of publication, no documentation in which munitions or munitions remnants allegedly used in this incident were located.

Victims

The air strikes on Yarim, which impacted two fuel stations and a gas tank, allegedly killed 32 civilians, including 9 children and three women, and injured 81 civilians, including 7 children and 11 women, according to a report by the Legal Center for Rights and Development. See Figure A207 for the list of killed and A208, below, for the list of injured.

Figure A207 List of killed from the Legal Center for Rights and Development report

Figure A208 List of injured from the Legal Center for Rights and Development report

Allegedly responsible

The tweet by Saudi state-run news outlet Almnatiq offered support that Saudi Arabia confirmed that the Saudi led coalition aircraft hit two fuel stations in Yarim. The strikes were documented by videos posted by Abdul-Rahman Qaid Al-Hajari on YouTube. As satellite images show at the site that open source analysis identified earlier, a gas tank was bombed near a military point, which corresponds to the news by Saudi Almnatiq newspaper that the coalition hit a military point in Yarim. This offers confirmation of the coalition’s responsibility for the three strikes.

Figure A209 Screenshot from Abdul-Rahman Qaid Al-Hajari YouTube video of station 1

Figure A210 Screenshot from Abdul-Rahman Qaid Al-Hajari YouTube video of station 2

This tweet below states that coalition forces have attacked a Houthi militia checkpoint in the Yarim district, south of Dhamar city, killing 18 Houthi militants. It came at 7:28 AM, two hours before Almnatiq’s tweet about the coalition’s bombing of two fuel stations in Yarim.

Figure A211 Screenshot of a tweet by Saudi Almnatiq newspaper

Figure A212

Here in Figure A212 are two satellite images from Google Earth of the area where the gas tank was bombed near a Houthi-Saleh military point. They are compared in the second image here with screenshots from Youthstand47’s video of the site after the attack.

Conclusion

Analysis of the available open-source data for this incident shows that at dawn on 31 March 2015, Saudi-led coalition aircraft allegedly bombed with direct hits two fuel stations and a gas tank, in Yarim district, Ibb governorate, in central Yemen, with three air strikes, allegedly killing 32 civilians, including children and women, and injuring 81 civilians, including women and children.