The Funeral Bombing

:00:09. > :00:19.It was the deadliest attack in Yemen's 21 month war. 140 people

:00:20. > :00:21.killed, over 500 injured, in Saudi led air strikes as they attended a

:00:22. > :00:32.funeral. The Saudis said the attack was based

:00:33. > :00:37.on incorrect information, and they're you many partners were to

:00:38. > :00:46.blame. We cross the front line to ask who was responsible.

:00:47. > :00:55.And we followed the bonds back to where they came from, the United

:00:56. > :00:59.States. Apparently the United States and United Kingdom think it is fine

:01:00. > :01:03.for the strikes to keep on happening, and I am very outraged

:01:04. > :01:08.that we are still assisting what looked just like war crimes. The

:01:09. > :01:13.bombing raised serious questions for Saudi Arabia and its allies, the US

:01:14. > :01:17.and UK, about the conduct of the war. Could this is strike have

:01:18. > :01:32.changed the course of the war in Yemen? -- air strike.

:01:33. > :01:41.Relatives and friends are gathering in the Yemeni capital, Sana'a. They

:01:42. > :01:45.are paying their respects to the victims of the worst air strike in

:01:46. > :01:49.the country's war. There are thousands of people here that have

:01:50. > :01:54.come to mourn their loved ones that were lost in the great War, and as

:01:55. > :01:55.they are doing that, the Saudi coalition aeroplanes are circling

:01:56. > :02:08.above. Today's memorial event, among the

:02:09. > :02:13.mourners are senior figures in the rebel government that controls the

:02:14. > :02:17.capital and parts of the country. Over two years ago, the Houthi Rebel

:02:18. > :02:26.Alliance forced President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi into exile. A Saudi led

:02:27. > :02:30.coalition backed by the US and the UK is trying to put him back in

:02:31. > :02:37.power and has carried out dozens of air strikes. -- thousands. For the

:02:38. > :02:42.mourners, returning to the burnt out to wreck of the community hall

:02:43. > :02:49.brings back genetic memories. -- traumatic.

:02:50. > :02:53.A month earlier, people were making plans to attend a day-long funeral

:02:54. > :03:16.of a respected senior tribal leader. When Abdullah and his youngest son

:03:17. > :03:19.arrived, the building was packed with senior political and military

:03:20. > :03:29.leaders from Yemen's rebel government. The funeral had been

:03:30. > :03:33.advertised widely. In keeping with him any tradition, thousands of

:03:34. > :03:41.people, most of them civilians, were on their way to attend.

:03:42. > :03:49.One of the coalition's key enemies was amongst those expected. Rumours

:03:50. > :03:57.swirled that the former president of Yemen, now one of the main rebel

:03:58. > :04:03.leaders, was in the funeral hall. Minutes before the bombing, an elite

:04:04. > :04:09.security unit that usually only travels with him, entered the

:04:10. > :04:18.building. Until now, it is still not confirmed whether he was there. We

:04:19. > :04:53.obtained a great interview with him. -- rare.

:04:54. > :04:59.Also at the funeral were hundreds of civilians from the country's many

:05:00. > :05:08.tribes. They had nothing to do with Yemen's war. It was 3:20 PM.

:05:09. > :06:01.One of those attending today's Memorial event is this 14-year-old,

:06:02. > :06:29.Hussain. Hussein's leg was trapped in the

:06:30. > :06:38.rubble. He was desperate to break free quickly.

:06:39. > :06:45.Fearing another bomb was going to be dropped on the funeral hall, Hussain

:06:46. > :07:06.and his father to their daggers and cut his leg. -- drew.

:07:07. > :07:10.Red Crescent teams rushed to the side of the bombing as soon as they

:07:11. > :07:38.heard the news. It was a wise decision. A pilot was

:07:39. > :07:42.preparing to drop another U.S.-made bomb.

:07:43. > :07:58.The United States is the main supplier of armaments to the

:07:59. > :08:06.coalition. The second 500lb bomber crashed to the roof. Detonating

:08:07. > :08:11.inside the hole just when the wounded were being evacuated. And

:08:12. > :08:28.medical teams and rescuers were entering the site.

:08:29. > :08:35.This hall at full capacity can take up to 2000 people. Now, everyone I

:08:36. > :08:40.have spoken to say it was absolutely packed. The first air strike dropped

:08:41. > :08:46.right over here. And as people were running out of the windows, and the

:08:47. > :08:50.first responders were coming in to treat casualties, around six or

:08:51. > :09:28.seven minutes later, the second air strike dropped over here.

:09:29. > :09:33.Abdullah, who had escaped the funeral hall, still believed his son

:09:34. > :09:45.was safe, having seen him flee the burning building.

:09:46. > :10:06.Two air strikes on the same target with a gap of minutes between them.

:10:07. > :10:10.That is known as a double tap. This is often classified as a war crime.

:10:11. > :10:19.It targets rescuers and medical teams. He was killed by the second

:10:20. > :10:23.strike while searching for his father. He was 26 years old. He had

:10:24. > :10:49.only been married for a month. His death and that of 139 others

:10:50. > :10:55.also allegedly broke other parts of international humanitarian law. It

:10:56. > :10:59.is actually forbidden to conduct an attack where loss of life or injury

:11:00. > :11:05.to civilians is out of proportion to the direct military gains. The whole

:11:06. > :11:09.was a community civilian establishment and the funeral was

:11:10. > :11:18.advertised on social media and on national TV.

:11:19. > :11:23.Initially, the Saudi led coalition denied striking the funeral at all.

:11:24. > :11:28.The United States expressed immediate concern, warning that

:11:29. > :11:35.security corporation with Saudi Arabia was not a blank cheque. --

:11:36. > :11:39.cooperation. A week later, a Saudi led investigation team blamed an

:11:40. > :11:43.unknown person in the Yemeni military for this type. It accused

:11:44. > :11:46.the air operation centre in Yemen for directing the bombing without

:11:47. > :11:55.obtaining approval from Saudi Arabia. -- this attack. However, we

:11:56. > :12:00.have obtained a rebel government intelligence report based on mobile

:12:01. > :12:04.phone records and interviews. It says informants were giving live

:12:05. > :12:06.updates of who was arriving at the funeral. Suggesting that the air

:12:07. > :12:49.strike was preplanned. The Saudis have denied that their

:12:50. > :12:58.central command in Riyadh authorise the strap. Expect the strike. They

:12:59. > :13:02.blame another centre, so I am going there. I am keen to hear what they

:13:03. > :13:09.say on the attack on the funeral hall. It is only 100 miles east. But

:13:10. > :13:17.due to the war, we need to skirt around the main frontline. It is a

:13:18. > :13:22.ten hour Drive to the mountains. No Western journalist has visited here

:13:23. > :13:27.since the war started. I meet units of the National army, leading the

:13:28. > :13:42.battle to take control of Sana'a from the rebels.

:13:43. > :13:52.These forces are equipped and supported by a Saudi-led coalition

:13:53. > :13:57.and have their wages paid by them. The key person I want to interview

:13:58. > :13:59.here is the head of the Yemeni army. He is in command of the air

:14:00. > :14:56.operations centre. The coalition says its command in

:14:57. > :15:03.Saudi Arabia didn't know about the attack and blames Yemenis in the air

:15:04. > :15:08.operations and to hear. But the general has said for the first time

:15:09. > :15:09.that foreign coalition personnel in the air operation centre were always

:15:10. > :15:54.present. This raises doubts that it was just

:15:55. > :15:59.the Yemenis who ordered the strike on the funeral hall. We asked the

:16:00. > :16:08.Saudi government for a response, but they did not reply. The funeral

:16:09. > :16:12.bombing was the first time the coalition admitted a serious breach

:16:13. > :16:18.in its own rules of engagement during the 21 month campaign. But

:16:19. > :16:21.the UN NGOs and many human rights groups have regularly criticised the

:16:22. > :16:31.way the coalition air campaign has been conducted. To find out more,

:16:32. > :16:36.I'm travelling to a Yemeni city that's been bombed the most by

:16:37. > :16:44.coalition jets. And the sight of another double air strike. It is a

:16:45. > :16:56.150 mile drive north from the capital. Homeland of the Houthi

:16:57. > :16:58.rebels. The Houthi rebels have been accused of regularly committing war

:16:59. > :17:13.crimes since launching their offensive from here two years ago.

:17:14. > :17:26.When the coalition air campaign started in March last year, the city

:17:27. > :17:30.was pounded. This was once its busiest market, hundreds of people

:17:31. > :17:34.used to make a living here selling sweets, food, clothes. Now it is

:17:35. > :17:49.completely destroyed. They've fled, leaving everything behind. The UN

:17:50. > :17:52.panel of experts in Yemen found that the Saudi-led coalition had

:17:53. > :18:00.seriously breached international humanitarian law in May, 2015. When

:18:01. > :18:03.they declared the entire city and military targets, making no

:18:04. > :18:09.distinction is between combatants and civilians. According to the

:18:10. > :18:14.United Nations, the first wave of air strikes destroyed 1200

:18:15. > :18:20.structures, amongst them five markets, a petrol station, 40% of

:18:21. > :18:26.the population here are fled. On January the 21st, coalition jets

:18:27. > :18:33.were circling nearby, waiting to strike. A bomb was dropped on a

:18:34. > :18:34.residential area near the city. An ambulance driver was dispatched from

:18:35. > :19:08.this hospital. Abdul was the driver. He arrived at the scene of the

:19:09. > :19:15.airstrike in his ambulance. What happened next was captured on

:19:16. > :19:19.camera. As with the funeral mean in Sanaa, a Saudi coalition plane

:19:20. > :19:20.carried out a second airstrike, just as civilians were aiding the

:19:21. > :19:36.wounded. He picked up some of the injured, a

:19:37. > :20:03.coalition jet was still overhead. His ambulance took a direct hit.

:20:04. > :20:06.Abdul and 17 other people were killed in the three airstrikes. 36

:20:07. > :20:22.were injured. The double tap funeral bombing in

:20:23. > :20:25.Sanaa on the eighth of October was one of thousands of coalition air

:20:26. > :20:35.strikes since March last year. The bombs in the strike all came from

:20:36. > :20:41.one place. The United States. I've come to Washington, DC, the United

:20:42. > :20:47.States government has been the Saudi-led coalition's strongest

:20:48. > :20:53.backer. Providing intelligence, logistical and advisory support.

:20:54. > :20:58.Billions of dollars of US weapons sales have been approved. After the

:20:59. > :21:03.funeral bombing, the White House announced an immediate review of US

:21:04. > :21:09.support. Expressing serious concern about how the conflict is being

:21:10. > :21:13.waged. Despite this, we've learnt that the US air force refuelled

:21:14. > :21:19.coalition jets the day after the airstrikes. In a four week period

:21:20. > :21:23.since then, US tankers flew over 87 missions, refuelling 386 aircraft

:21:24. > :21:27.with over 1.7 billion litres of fuel. Indeed this is slightly higher

:21:28. > :21:37.than the monthly average support given by the US since the air

:21:38. > :21:42.campaign again. There's also been growing pressure in Congress about

:21:43. > :21:48.assistance. This representative serves as a colonel in the US air

:21:49. > :21:55.force reserves. He's been following the campaign closely. We're flying

:21:56. > :22:00.out tankers with US pilots, we are fuelling this jets at the Saudi led

:22:01. > :22:05.coalition and then they are dropping bombs. But if you look at

:22:06. > :22:11.international law you can be guilty of aiding and abetting war crimes,

:22:12. > :22:15.so if you are in that collect -- direct military operation, my view

:22:16. > :22:22.is that opens up the US to great risk and we need to stop doing it.

:22:23. > :22:27.This week the White House released a provisional statement following the

:22:28. > :22:32.funeral bombing. For the first time since the war began they are

:22:33. > :22:36.blocking the supply of precision ammunitions to Saudi Arabia, but the

:22:37. > :22:43.refuelling of coalition jets which only the US has the capacity to do

:22:44. > :22:48.will continue. No current US official would give me an interview,

:22:49. > :22:52.but a recently retired senior State Department ambassador, who worked on

:22:53. > :22:57.Yemen during the first year of the war, agreed to talk to me. I don't

:22:58. > :23:02.believe that Saudi Arabia is guilty of war crimes and I don't think the

:23:03. > :23:06.US or the UK for that matter is complicit. So you have to be careful

:23:07. > :23:09.about the way you make the assumption that it has to be on the

:23:10. > :23:15.basis of a clear examination and investigation of the facts before

:23:16. > :23:24.you can say that this was a -- in fact a war crime, and intent has to

:23:25. > :23:31.be there. The funeral hall is said to be preserved as a monument to

:23:32. > :23:36.those who died. The UN estimates that more than 4000 people had been

:23:37. > :23:44.killed by coalition airstrikes. 60% civilians. The Saudi-led coalition

:23:45. > :23:49.says this figure is exaggerated. Many Yemenis hope that the outcry

:23:50. > :23:56.following the funeral bombing would have an impact. The United States is

:23:57. > :23:59.now reconsidering its position. But, for now, the airstrikes and the war

:24:00. > :24:34.continue. It is very quiet

:24:35. > :24:37.weather at the moment. Even our Weather Watchers found it

:24:38. > :24:40.difficult to find any sunshine. A lovely picture, though,

:24:41. > :24:43.taken earlier on in Hampshire.