Geolocation
Airwars assessment
On December 21st, 2024 four children were reportedly injured when a previously unexploded ordinance detonated in Ad-Duraihimi City in Al-Hudaydah Governorate, Yemen. Some sources reported that the munition was “left behind by the US-Saudi aggression”, with others writing that the ordinance was planted by the “Houthi militias”.
On December 25th, 2024, the Human Rights Office, Ad-Duraihimi District posted to Facebook, writing that four children were “injured by a landmine explosion disguised as a doll.” The Office wrote that 14-year-old Ayman Muhammad Maqbool suffered “scattered injuries”; 5-year-old Rafiq Ayash Sagheer Bakri suffered injuries to the “head and left eye”; 4-year-old Hamdi Ayash Bakri suffered “scattered injuries to the right arm and chest”; and Muhammad Hiba Bakri was injured to the extent that his left leg required amputation. Given their shared last name, Rafiq, Hamdi, and Muhammad have been recorded as family members. This will be updated should additional information become available. Additionally, the Office also specified that the explosion occurred on December 21st, 2024.
Regarding attribution to “the US-Saudi aggression”, a US-led coalition and a Saudi-UAE partnership independently carried out airstrikes and military operations in Yemen throughout 2024. As such, attributing the munition to “US-Saudi aggression” seems to reflect the fact that those reporting on the injuries resulting from the explosion of the ordinance understand that the munition must have been left behind by one of the two parties, but are unable to determine which one. That said, another source, the Human Rights Office, Ad-Duraihimi District, reported that the “Houthi militias” “committed the crime”. As a result, all three actors have been marked as reported belligerents and the strike status for this incident has been recorded as “Contested”. This will be updated should additional information come to light.
Posting to Facebook, the Yemen Daily News account also attributed the incident to the Houthi Movement, writing the Human Rights Department in Ad Durayhimi District “had documented the injury of four children in the explosion of a toy mine planted by the Houthis last Saturday.” The account added that the explosion was the result of “a camouflaged mine planted by the Houthi group” which exploded as the children were “playing and tampering with it”. The post specified that the injuries that the four children suffered were the caused by shrapnel. Masr Media, among others, reshared this account, as well as that shared by the Human Rights Department, on Facebook.
Initial reports like those shared by almotamar.net, Houthi-affiliated media network @TvAlmasirah, @almotamarnet, and others reported that “A citizen was seriously injured when an object left behind by the US-Saudi aggression exploded in Ad Durayhimi District”. Posting to Twitter, users @AlmdwahyBdallh, @yamanyoonn, @MlyatNz, @hanimorshd, @mineaction_ye, and others specified that the explosion had “seriously injured a child”.
Subsequently, almotamar.net, along with yamanyoon.com, reported that “young man Ayman Mohammed Maqbool” was seriously injured in the explosion. Ayman’s name was the first and only name shared prior to the report released by the Human Rights Office, Ad-Duraihimi District’s Facebook account.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Family members (3)
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the city of Ad-Duraihimi (الدريهمي), for which the generic coordinates are: 14.636761, 43.055002. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (23) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]
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Source: Masar media