Yemen Data Project: Collating data on political violence and Saudi coalition air raids.

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CEASEFIRE UPDATE APRIL 2020
WEEK THREE

Bombings Continue In Extended Ceasefire

Saudi-led coalition air raids dip in week three of extended unilateral ceasefire

On 24 April, the Saudi-led coalition announced a one-month extension of the two-week, unilateral ceasefire in Yemen that began at midday on 9 April and ended on 23 April. Yemen Data Project recorded at least 60 air raids with up to 270 individual airstrikes during the 14 days of the initial ceasefire.

In the third week of the now extended ceasefire, Yemen Data Project recorded at least 23 air raids with up to 87 individual airstrikes, including 2 air raids that took place late on 23 April after the official end of the two-week ceasefire at midday and before the announced extension on 24 April. This was a 32% reduction from the ceasefire spike seen in week two. The first civilian casualties in air raids during the ceasefire were recorded when a residential area was bombed in Razih district of Sa'ada on 29 April, injuring three civilians.

WEEK 1 UPDATE WEEK 2 UPDATE

The Saudi-led coalition has carried out a total of at least 83 air raids with up to 356 individual airstrikes in the three-week ceasefire period from midday on 9 April to 30 April.

Governorates targeted

Air raids continued to predominantly target Marib during the third week of the unilateral ceasefire. 83% of bombings in the third week hit the three governorates of Marib, Sa'ada and Al-Jawf, reflecting the continued fighting in the ground war and active frontlines. Majzar and Sirwah in Marib have been the most heavily bombed districts during the three weeks. 34% of all air raids during the unilateral ceasefire hit these two districts. In air raids where the target could be identified, 9 bombings have hit civilian targets during the three weeks including 6 air raids in residential areas.

Despite week three of the ceasefire having the lowest number of bombings in a single week since mid-January, air raids during the ceasefire have yet to reduce to the lower levels seen during the undeclared de-escalation in the last quarter of 2019 and early Jaunary 2020 when air raids did not go above 10 in a single week.

After the undeclared de-escalation ended in mid-January, air raids averaged 44 per week in 2020 prior to the unilateral declaration by Saudi Arabia of a ceasefire in April.
In week three of the ceasefire 23 air raids were recorded, down from 34 in week two and below the 26 recorded in week one.

FOR MORE DETAILS AND COMMENT PLEASE CONTACT:
Iona Craig (Yemen) +967 736693365 iona.craig@yemendataproject.org

Fighting on the ground

Fighting also continued in the ground war during the unilateral ceasefire. Separate to our air raids data collection, as part of our work to enhance conflict monitoring and data sharing, Yemen Data Project contributes countrywide data on political violence and violence in the ground war to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. This extensive monitoring effort has allowed ACLED and YDP to provide the most comprehensive coverage of political violence across Yemen.

ACLED's methodology on casualty counting differs from Yemen Data Project's air raids data. See here for more details on ACLED's methodology and coding decisions used in their data collection.

Forward

*Air raid refers to a single incident. One air raid incident includes all air strikes on a single location within approximately one hour and therefore may comprise multiple airstrikes. Airstrikes per air raid can vary greatly from a couple to several dozen. In YDP's data the air raid figure is the most conservative. The true number of individual airstrikes in the air war ranges from the minimum of 20,934 to a maximum airstrikes of 59,641 since 26 March 2015 to the 23 April 2020. Read more.

Copyright © 2019 The Yemen Data Project. All rights reserved.

For further information on the Yemen Data Project please visit www.yemendataproject.org or contact the project's spokesperson, Iona Craig: iona.craig@yemendataproject.org

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