Yemen 2016 onwards: an intractable war?

**Azor** · 12-20-2016

Originally Posted by CrowBat

I'm offering my apology in advance for asking the following (because usually I'm never asking for sources), but: what is the source for the number of Saudi and allied casualties, what for the number of Houthi+Saleh casualties, and what for 'coalition is killing more civilians than fighters'?

Namely, I'm orientating on reports by Yemen Post. Sure, that's 'another one man' outlet, but it appears actually fairly neutral, even slightly 'anti-Houthi' to me.

In regards of casualty-figures, it's orienting on Houthi-officials, i.e. how many death certificates these are issuing. The latest figure they cited (see the link above) is at about 10,700.

(BTW, Yemen Post's earlier figures in this regards are much more precise.)

Don't recall what was the latest figure published by the UN, but Yemen Post is usually reporting a figure about 2000-3000 higher than that of the UN.

Thus, I'm simply surprised by the figures you're citing, Azor.

It is difficult to come by accurate casualty statistics for the war in Yemen, especially of combatants.

According to the UN’s OHCHR, some 3,792 documented civilian fatalities had occurred by August 2016, of which 60% were inflicted by the Saudi-led coalition (primarily airstrikes) and 24% by the Houthis.

The UN’s OHCA had reported over 6,700 total deaths in Yemen to March 2016, and there are estimates of 10,000 total dead to August 2016, however, it is unknown if these are unverified estimates of civilians or if they include combatants. Assuming they include both, a 0.38:1 civilian-to-combatant fatality ratio would not be the worst record to be sure, although it would be in line with the Bosnian War.

As for coalition deaths, those are sourced from a variety of news reports (Yemen Post, AP, Reuters, BBC, etc.) and 830, including mercenaries, makes sense to me given the losses of Saudi AFVs and MBTs in Yemen.

I am curious as to the following: