January 15: A Day of Targeting People and Stone in an Aggression Without Red Lines
In Yemeni collective memory, January 15 does not pass as an ordinary date, but stands as a stark marker of a phase in which the American–Saudi–Emirati aggression reached the height of its disregard for all humanitarian values. Popular markets, farms, factories, and homes were turned into direct targets, and civilians—children and women alike—fell victim to an assault that made no distinction between a front line and a household, nor between a military site and a bustling market.
Targeting as a Method: When Livelihoods Become Targets
Since 2016, this day has exposed a consistent pattern in the conduct of the aggression, marked by the targeting of vital centers that constitute the lifeline of daily life for Yemeni society. The bombing of Al-Khamis Market in Saqain, Saada; the destruction of a medical center; and the strike on a food-processing factory near Dhamar University were not isolated incidents. Rather, they were early indicators of a strategy aimed at undermining the local economy and food security, and at turning civilian life into an open-ended struggle for survival.
Markets Under Fire: Bloodshed in Places of Livelihood
In 2017, one of the most heinous crimes was committed when Al-Ithnayn Market in Al-Matoun, Al-Jawf, was targeted with Katyusha rockets, leaving martyrs and wounded amid destroyed shops. The scene was repeated in subsequent years in different forms: airstrikes on farms in Al-Jarrahi, cluster munitions in Sahar, and missile and artillery shelling of border villages in Saada—transforming spaces of livelihood into open arenas of death.
Gradual Destruction of Civilian Infrastructure
Over the years, the targeting of main roads, telecommunications towers, homes, workshops, and even car repair shops did not cease. In Harib in 2022, for example, airstrikes destroyed dozens of vehicles in citizens’ workshops. This pattern reflects a systematic effort to disable all foundations of economic and social resilience and to plunge society into a cycle of deprivation and dependence.
Burning Borders: A Crime Beyond Geography
In border governorates—particularly Saada—Saudi missile and artillery shelling has remained a constant feature of January 15: child martyrs, wounded women, livestock killed, and farms burned. This was not a military response, but a policy of collective punishment targeting safe villages, confirming that civilians were the most obvious and accessible target.
From Airstrikes to Artillery: A Prolonged War on Life
Even in years when the intensity of airstrikes diminished, the bleeding continued through artillery shelling and entrenched combat positions in Al-Hudaydah, Hays, and Al-Jabalya. The war machine maintained a single rhythm: keeping civilians under constant pressure and preventing any genuine recovery of daily life.
A Systematic Strategy of Targeting
January 15 is not merely a date in the record of aggression; it is a recurring witness to a systematic targeting strategy: striking markets to break the popular economy, bombing farms to drain food sources, destroying workshops and factories to disrupt labor, and terrorizing border villages to keep fear ever-present. It is a war against society itself—not against battle lines.