Mwatana Launches Research Paper on the Civilian Impact of U.S. Airstrikes in Yemen
Mwatana for Human Rights said in a statement today, issued to coincide with the launch of its research paper, prepared in partnership with the Costs of War project, housed at Brown University and titled “Deaths and Human Costs of U.S. Airstrikes on Civilian Populations in Yemen (December 2023–May 2025),” that U.S. military operations targeting areas under the control of the Ansar Allah (Houthi) group in Yemen resulted in the deaths of hundreds of civilians and caused extensive damage to civilian objects and infrastructure. The organization renewed its call on the United States to assume its legal and moral responsibility toward civilian victims of its military operations in Yemen, ensure justice and redress and reparation for them, hold accountable those responsible for the grave violations committed against them, and ensure that such violations are not repeated.
Through the research paper, Mwatana examined some of the civilian harm resulting from 46 U.S. airstrikes documented by the organization. Seven of these strikes were carried out during “Operation Prosperity Guardian,” conducted from December 18, 2023, to January 19, 2025, under President Joe Biden, while 39 strikes were carried out during “Operation Rough Rider,” conducted from March 15 to May 6, 2025, under President Donald Trump. Both operations were launched in response to attacks by the Ansar Allah (Houthi) group on ships and commercial vessels traveling to and from Israel through the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, amid a regional context marked by escalating tensions linked to the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip following the October 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian factions on Israeli settlements in the Gaza envelope area.
The 46 documented U.S. airstrikes involved multiple types of munitions and/or bombs and targeted civilian objects protected under international humanitarian law. They resulted in the deaths of at least 213 civilians, including at least 28 children and 12 women, and injured 363 others, including at least 22 children and 13 women. The strikes also caused extensive damage to civilian objects and infrastructure facilities and left far-reaching psychological, economic, and humanitarian impacts.
Mwatana explained that the U.S. airstrikes documented by the organization and examined in this research paper caused extensive damage to homes, shops, farms, residential neighborhoods, industrial facilities, and civilian infrastructure and other facilities. The organization emphasized that the harm was not limited to direct loss of life and injuries, but also extended to household incomes and livelihoods, particularly in areas already suffering from economic deterioration and shortages of essential services, including water, electricity, and healthcare.
Mwatana affirmed that the consequences of the U.S. airstrikes for civilians’ lives continue despite the cessation of military operations months ago. Affected families have lost breadwinners, sources of income, and property, while some have been forced to leave their destroyed or uninhabitable homes, seek shelter with relatives, or rent small spaces for accommodation. Other families have faced difficulties providing care for their children or enrolling them in school, while some of those injured continue to require treatment, surgery, and medical and psychological care that they have been unable to access.
Radhya Al-Mutawakel, Chairperson of Mwatana for Human Rights, said: “The losses caused by U.S. airstrikes against civilians cannot be regarded as temporary harm that ends when military operations cease. Civilians who have lost loved ones, homes, or sources of income continue to bear the consequences of these attacks, amid economic and humanitarian conditions that do not provide them with even the minimum capacity to recover.”
Al-Mutawakel added: “Protecting civilians is not limited to avoiding killing or injuring them; it also includes respecting civilian objects and livelihoods. The United States must assume its legal and moral responsibility to recognize the civilian victims of its military operations in Yemen, provide them with redress and reparation, and hold accountable those responsible for the violations inflicted upon them.”
In the research paper, which included a detailed legal assessment of the incidents it documented, Mwatana concluded that U.S. airstrikes that struck civilian targets during its military operations in Yemen raise serious concerns regarding U.S. compliance with the rules of international humanitarian law, particularly the principles of distinction and proportionality and the obligation to take feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians and civilian objects. The organization emphasized that the killing of civilians and the targeting of and damage to infrastructure, essential service facilities, and other civilian objects amount to war crimes under international humanitarian law and the Rome Statute.
Mwatana affirmed that victims’ right to know the truth, obtain justice, and receive redress and reparation must constitute an essential component of any response to the impact of U.S. military operations on civilians in Yemen. These operations were carried out in violation of international humanitarian law, resulting in civilian casualties and damage to civilian objects, and therefore require independent and effective investigations, the publication of their findings, accountability for those responsible, and ensuring that civilian victims have access to effective remedies and appropriate redress and reparation for the harm suffered. This should include compensation, rehabilitation, and the reconstruction of damaged property and facilities, depending on the nature of the harm. Mwatana also stressed the need for communities affected by military operations in Yemen to rehabilitate damaged or destroyed essential service facilities, including health centers and water and electricity networks, as well as to clear unexploded remnants of bombs and munitions and secure areas affected by them.
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Mwatana called on the international community, including the United Nations, to support efforts to ensure accountability and justice in Yemen, ensure that perpetrators of grave violations of international humanitarian law are held accountable, and place victims’ rights and needs at the center of any peace process and efforts to address the impact of the conflict in Yemen.
This research paper is based on 59 interviews conducted by Mwatana with survivors, family members of victims, eyewitnesses, paramedics, and medical sources, after obtaining their informed consent. The research team also collected various forms of evidence, including photographs, video recordings, and official documents such as birth certificates, identity cards, death certificates, and medical reports, in addition to information concerning the nature of the victims’ work and their civilian and political affiliations, in order to verify their civilian status. Any individual whose civilian status could not be verified was excluded from the civilian casualty figures presented in this paper. Attacks that targeted military objectives or did not result in civilian harm were also excluded.
Mwatana emphasized that the research paper presents only the impact, data, and statistics concerning victims of U.S. airstrikes that the organization was able to document through its field team, despite increasing difficulties, risks, and restrictions. It therefore sheds light on only part of the impact, data, and statistics concerning victims of U.S. airstrikes against civilians in Yemen and does not necessarily reflect the impact, data, and statistics concerning victims of all U.S. airstrikes that targeted civilians and civilian objects and facilities, which are likely to be significantly higher than those presented in this paper.
Mwatana for Human Rights had previously commented on reports published by Reuters and the Associated Press on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, concerning the U.S. Department of Defense (the Pentagon) acknowledging, in a report submitted to Congress, that 153 civilians were killed and 243 others injured as a result of three U.S. airstrikes in Yemen in April 2025. Mwatana stated that these successive reports serve as a reminder of the hundreds of civilian victims of U.S. military operations conducted in Yemen between 2023 and 2025, in addition to victims of military operations carried out as part of the “war on terror” since 2002 and spanning two decades, and of their rights to recognition, redress and reparation, and accountability.
Radhya Al-Mutawakel, Chairperson of Mwatana for Human Rights, said: “For more than two decades of numerous U.S. military operations in Yemen, successive U.S. administrations have evaded taking any serious steps to investigate what independent human rights reports have documented and exposed concerning some of the horrific violations suffered by hundreds of Yemeni civilian victims, and to assume their legal and moral responsibility under international humanitarian law and international human rights law.” Al-Mutawakel emphasized: “Any serious steps by the United States to recognize the victims, provide them with redress and reparation, hold accountable those responsible for the violations committed against them, and ensure that such violations are not repeated in the future constitute the minimum of the inherent rights of civilian victims, which are not subject to a statute of limitations.”
