Classrooms under fire: Yemen’s warring parties launched 380 attacks impacting schools, report finds

A new report has found that the Saudi-led coalition, Houthi rebels, government forces and other factions in Yemen's civil war have all occupied, used or attacked schools.
A Yemeni boy sits in a hole in a wall at a school that was damaged in the country's ongoing conflict between the Saudi-led Arab coalition fighting Shiite Huthi rebels in the northern province of Saada, on March 14, 2017. The conflict in Yemen, which escalated with the intervention of the Saudi-led coalition two years ago, has more than doubled the number of children deprived of schooling to some 3.5 million, threatening the future of a whole generation in the impoverished country. / AFP PHOTO / STRINGER / T
A Yemeni boy sits in a hole in a wall at a school that was damaged in the country's ongoing conflict between the Saudi-led Arab coalition fighting Shiite Houthi rebels in the northern province of Saada, on March 14, 2017. The conflict in Yemen, which escalated with the intervention of the Saudi-led coalition two years ago, has more than doubled the number of children deprived of schooling to some 3.5 million, threatening the future of a whole generation in the impoverished country. - STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images
Elizabeth Hagedorn
Elizabeth Hagedorn
@ElizHagedorn

As the conflict in Yemen approaches its sixth year, attacks on or near schools have forced many to close their doors, depriving thousands of children of their basic right to an education, a new report has found.

Independent Yemeni human rights organization Mwatana and the London-based Ceasefire Center for Civilian Rights found that the country’s warring factions have "all damaged, destroyed, used, occupied or attacked schools." The report released Tuesday documented more than 380 attacks on or in close proximity to educational facilities between March 2015 and December 2019.

Access the Middle East news and analysis you can trust

Join our community of Middle East readers to experience all of Al-Monitor, including 24/7 news, analyses, memos, reports and newsletters.

Subscribe

Only $100 per year.

Videos

See more