Air strike' kills five in historic district of Sana'a
Five people have died and several buildings were destroyed in the old quarter of the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, in what witnesses said was an air strike.
Sana’a’s old city has been inhabited for more than 2,500 years and was a centre for the propagation of Islam, boasting more than 100 mosques, 14 public baths and more than 6,000 houses built before the 11th century. Unesco calls it a jewel of Islamic culture and added the site to its world heritage list in 1986.
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Residents said the blast was caused by an air strike by the Saudi-led coalition that launched a bombing campaign against Houthi rebels in late March. If confirmed it would be the first in old Sana’a since the bombing began.
Medics and witnesses said a missile hit the Qassimi neighbourhood without exploding, killing five residents and destroying three three-storey houses.
A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition denied it had carried out an air strike, suggesting a rebel ammunition cache may have exploded. “For sure we did not conduct any operation inside [the] city,” Brig Gen Ahmed al-Assiri said.
He said rebels may have been hiding weapons or ammunition in the area. “Several days before they had an explosion in one of their storage [areas]”, he said of the Houthi rebels. “So it could be one of these.”
The Unesco director general, Irina Bokova, said she was “profoundly distressed by the loss of human lives as well as by the damage inflicted on one of the world’s oldest jewels of Islamic urban landscape”.
She said she was “shocked by the images of these magnificent many-storeyed tower houses and serene gardens reduced to rubble”.
“The historic value and memories enshrined in these sites have been irreparably damaged or destroyed,” Bokova said. “This destruction will only exacerbate the humanitarian situation and I reiterate my call to all parties to respect and protect cultural heritage in Yemen.”
Naji Saleh Thawaba, head of Yemen’s General Organisation for the Preservation of the Historic Cities of Yemen, also condemned the attack. “I never imagined that this site could one day become a target – even if there were enemy [positions] in the area, it should never be a target for air strikes,” he said.
The upper storeys of houses rising from ground floors constructed of stone are built of rammed earth and burnt brick, and each building is decorated with geometric patterns of fired bricks and white gypsum, inspired by traditional Islamic art.
The old city has already suffered some damage from air strikes on nearby targets, including the defence ministry, prompting a protest from Unesco in May.
This month Unesco condemned air strikes that hit the ancient dam of Marib, which was first built in the eighth century BC in the city that was once the capital of the kingdom of Saba.