Yemeni human rights organization Mwatana has issued a report based on years of research, titled, “The Degradation of Human Suffering in Yemen’s Civil WarHistory: Violations Committed by the Warring Parties against Yemen’s Cultural Property.”

 the Yemeni human rights organization Mwatana issued a report on damage to cultural heritage in Yemen from the ongoing civil war. The report, entitled “The Degradation of History: Violations Committed by the Warring Parties against Yemen’s Cultural Property,” is the first comprehensive look at the treatment of Yemen’s cultural heritage over the course of the conflict, which began in 2015 over disputed claims to the Yemeni government between the then-incumbent president and a Houthi militia.

There are many factions involved in the conflict, but the major parties include  president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, supported by the “Popular Resistance” on the ground in Yemen and by airstrikes from the Arab coalition, led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE (with support from the US and the UK), on one side. They are opposed by the Houthi movement , formerly allied with Hadi’s predecessor as president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Mwatana’s report demonstrates that heritage sites have been damaged by all of these parties.

Mwatana conducted research for the report over a period of three years, primarily through on-the-ground interviews and site visits. Information in the report is sometimes limited, as several sites were off-limits to the organizations’ researchers because of the ongoing conflict. And unfortunately, Mwatana did not include photographs and other documentation that they took of affected sites they did visit. Instead, the incident discussions are based solely on eyewitness testimonies. Even with these drawbacks, the report is still extremely valuable for the broad, yet detailed picture it gives.

While there are a few documented incidents of ideological destruction of heritage sites (by Al Qaeda, ISIS, and other jihadist groups), most damage appears to be the direct result of violence between the warring parties. This includes shelling by the Houthis and forces loyal to the ousted president Hadi. But a close examination of the incident reports suggests that the biggest culprit are airstrikes by the Saudi-led Arab coalition.