CIMP Monthly Report - December 2022

December sees highest civilian casualty count since July
178 civilian casualties were reported in December 2022, up 13% from the 157 casualties reported in November, and marking an increase for the second consecutive month. This is also the highest casualty count to be reported in one month since July. The increase among fatalities was greater still, up by a third from 40 to 53 in December, also the highest since July. By contrast, the number of child casualties decreased, from 47 in November to 42 in December, and the number of women casualties dropped to a sixth of those reported in November, from 24 to four.

Civilian casualties as a result of border violence in Sa’dah ramp up
During the truce period, reports of civilian casualties as a result of border violence in western Sa’dah saw a relative lull, despite picking up slightly to 34 in July. However, in December, shellfire and machine gun fire in the western border districts of Monabbih and Shada’a resulted in 46 civilian casualties; the highest monthly total since before the truce. At least two hospitals in the area reported receiving casualties from the border areas, with a high proportion of migrants reportedly among the casualties. In the incident to see the highest civilian casualty numbers, on 23 December, one civilian was killed and 12 others were injured when artillery shells hit Ar Raqw of Monabbih. The area is a popular market town in an area known to serve as an informal border crossing point for people and goods. It remains unclear as to what has prompted the latest surge in reports of casualties.

Highest child ERW casualty numbers reported in December since July
Explosive remnants of warfare (ERW) resulted in 51 civilian casualties throughout Yemen in December 2022, more than half of whom (27) were children. This is the highest monthly total of children to be killed or injured by ERW in one month since July, and the second highest in 2022. Among the child casualties were 10 fatalities, including eight on account of ERW. Of the 27 child ERW casualties reported in December, half (13) were reported in Hudaydah, and another five just up the west coast, in Hajjah. For the past six months, Hudaydah has been seeing the highest ERW casualty numbers in the country, including among children.

Mass casualty grenade attack in Hadramawt kills seven and injures 22
On 2 December, seven civilians were killed and 22 others were injured, including three children, when two hand grenades were detonated inside Az Zuyyar mosque in the Wadi Hawl area of Yabuth district in Hadramawt following a dispute. The incident marks the highest civilian casualty count in the country since a weapons cache exploded at an arms market in Lawdar, Abyan, in July. It is also the highest civilian casualty count to be reported in one incident in Hadramawt on CIMP records. Grenade incidents are not uncommon across the country; throughout 2022, hand grenade incidents were responsible for 81 civilian casualties, with the 29 in Hadramawt followed by 16 in Ibb and eight in Dali’.

Resumption in incidents impacting schools results in three child casualties
Since the countrywide truce commenced in April 2022, despite some reports of violence in close proximity to educational facilities, there had been no reported instances of armed violence directly impacting schools. However, in December, there were two such incidents reported, including a drone strike in Hajjah, where on 12 December, an 11-year-old boy was killed and two other boys, aged 8 and 10 years, were injured when drone strikes hit a school in Ad Dayyir in Hayran district. Another school was damaged when a hand grenade was thrown into its premises in Musayk in Shuaub district, Sana’a city, on 28 December, but no casualties were reported in the latter incident. Nonetheless, all violence in proximity to schools can serve to restrict access to the sites, whether physically or psychologically, and can therefore impact on children’s access to education. Prior to the December drone strike, the last time children were harmed as a result of a school being impacted by armed violence was in February, when one girl was killed and another injured when a school was caught in the crossfire of clashes that broke out amid a tribal dispute in Qa’atabah district, Dali’.

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