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

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CEASEFIRE UPDATE APRIL - MAY 2020
WEEK FOUR

Bombings Decline in Week Four of Extended Ceasefire

Saudi-led coalition air raids down by 43% in week four of unilateral ceasefire

The extended unilateral ceasefire continued in to May, with air raid* numbers dropping to the lowest weekly rate since the declared start by the Saudi-led coalition at midday on 9 April.

In the fourth week of the extended ceasefire, Yemen Data Project recorded at least 13 air raids with up to 38 individual airstrikes. This continued the decline in bombings seen in weeks one and three with a 43% reduction in air raids from week three to week four. Three civilian casualties in air raids were recorded in week four of the ceasefire when a customs depot was bombed in Al-Maljim district of Bayda on 2 May, injuring three civilians and destroying 11 trucks carrying food items and other goods. A total of six civilians have been injured in air raids since the beginning of the ceasefire.

WEEK 1 UPDATE WEEK 2 UPDATE WEEK 3 UPDATE

The Saudi-led coalition has carried out a total of at least 96 air raids with up to 394 individual airstrikes in the four-week ceasefire period from midday on 9 April to 7 May.

Governorates targeted

Air raids continued to predominantly target Marib during the fourth week of the unilateral ceasefire. 46% of bombings in the fourth week hit the governorate reflecting the active frontline in the ground war. Majzar and Sirwah in Marib have been the most heavily bombed districts during the four weeks. In air raids where the target could be identified, 11 bombings have hit civilian targets during the ceasefire, including 7 air raids in residential areas.

Despite week four 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 four of the ceasefire 13 air raids were recorded, down from 23 air raids in week three, 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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