The Funeral Bombing Our World

It was the deadliest attack in Yemen's 21 month war. 140 people

killed, over 500 injured, in Saudi led air strikes as they attended a

funeral. The Saudis said the attack was based

on incorrect information, and they're you many partners were to

blame. We cross the front line to ask who was responsible.

And we followed the bonds back to where they came from, the United

States. Apparently the United States and United Kingdom think it is fine

for the strikes to keep on happening, and I am very outraged

that we are still assisting what looked just like war crimes. The

bombing raised serious questions for Saudi Arabia and its allies, the US

and UK, about the conduct of the war. Could this is strike have

changed the course of the war in Yemen? -- air strike.

Relatives and friends are gathering in the Yemeni capital, Sana'a. They

are paying their respects to the victims of the worst air strike in

the country's war. There are thousands of people here that have

come to mourn their loved ones that were lost in the great War, and as

they are doing that, the Saudi coalition aeroplanes are circling

above. Today's memorial event, among the

mourners are senior figures in the rebel government that controls the

capital and parts of the country. Over two years ago, the Houthi Rebel

Alliance forced President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi into exile. A Saudi led

coalition backed by the US and the UK is trying to put him back in

power and has carried out dozens of air strikes. -- thousands. For the

mourners, returning to the burnt out to wreck of the community hall

brings back genetic memories. -- traumatic.

A month earlier, people were making plans to attend a day-long funeral

of a respected senior tribal leader. When Abdullah and his youngest son

arrived, the building was packed with senior political and military

leaders from Yemen's rebel government. The funeral had been

advertised widely. In keeping with him any tradition, thousands of

people, most of them civilians, were on their way to attend.

One of the coalition's key enemies was amongst those expected. Rumours

swirled that the former president of Yemen, now one of the main rebel

leaders, was in the funeral hall. Minutes before the bombing, an elite

security unit that usually only travels with him, entered the

building. Until now, it is still not confirmed whether he was there. We

obtained a great interview with him. -- rare.

Also at the funeral were hundreds of civilians from the country's many

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

One of those attending today's Memorial event is this 14-year-old,

Hussain. Hussein's leg was trapped in the

rubble. He was desperate to break free quickly.

Fearing another bomb was going to be dropped on the funeral hall, Hussain

and his father to their daggers and cut his leg. -- drew.

Red Crescent teams rushed to the side of the bombing as soon as they

heard the news. It was a wise decision. A pilot was

preparing to drop another U.S.-made bomb.

The United States is the main supplier of armaments to the

coalition. The second 500lb bomber crashed to the roof. Detonating

inside the hole just when the wounded were being evacuated. And

medical teams and rescuers were entering the site.

This hall at full capacity can take up to 2000 people. Now, everyone I

have spoken to say it was absolutely packed. The first air strike dropped

right over here. And as people were running out of the windows, and the

first responders were coming in to treat casualties, around six or

seven minutes later, the second air strike dropped over here.

Abdullah, who had escaped the funeral hall, still believed his son

was safe, having seen him flee the burning building.

Two air strikes on the same target with a gap of minutes between them.

That is known as a double tap. This is often classified as a war crime.

It targets rescuers and medical teams. He was killed by the second

strike while searching for his father. He was 26 years old. He had

only been married for a month. His death and that of 139 others

also allegedly broke other parts of international humanitarian law. It

is actually forbidden to conduct an attack where loss of life or injury

to civilians is out of proportion to the direct military gains. The whole

was a community civilian establishment and the funeral was

advertised on social media and on national TV.

Initially, the Saudi led coalition denied striking the funeral at all.

The United States expressed immediate concern, warning that

security corporation with Saudi Arabia was not a blank cheque. --

cooperation. A week later, a Saudi led investigation team blamed an

unknown person in the Yemeni military for this type. It accused

the air operation centre in Yemen for directing the bombing without

obtaining approval from Saudi Arabia. -- this attack. However, we

have obtained a rebel government intelligence report based on mobile

phone records and interviews. It says informants were giving live

updates of who was arriving at the funeral. Suggesting that the air

strike was preplanned. The Saudis have denied that their

central command in Riyadh authorise the strap. Expect the strike. They

blame another centre, so I am going there. I am keen to hear what they

say on the attack on the funeral hall. It is only 100 miles east. But

due to the war, we need to skirt around the main frontline. It is a

ten hour Drive to the mountains. No Western journalist has visited here

since the war started. I meet units of the National army, leading the

battle to take control of Sana'a from the rebels.

These forces are equipped and supported by a Saudi-led coalition

and have their wages paid by them. The key person I want to interview

here is the head of the Yemeni army. He is in command of the air

operations centre. The coalition says its command in

Saudi Arabia didn't know about the attack and blames Yemenis in the air

operations and to hear. But the general has said for the first time

that foreign coalition personnel in the air operation centre were always

present. This raises doubts that it was just

the Yemenis who ordered the strike on the funeral hall. We asked the

Saudi government for a response, but they did not reply. The funeral

bombing was the first time the coalition admitted a serious breach

in its own rules of engagement during the 21 month campaign. But

the UN NGOs and many human rights groups have regularly criticised the

way the coalition air campaign has been conducted. To find out more,

I'm travelling to a Yemeni city that's been bombed the most by

coalition jets. And the sight of another double air strike. It is a

150 mile drive north from the capital. Homeland of the Houthi

rebels. The Houthi rebels have been accused of regularly committing war

crimes since launching their offensive from here two years ago.

When the coalition air campaign started in March last year, the city

was pounded. This was once its busiest market, hundreds of people

used to make a living here selling sweets, food, clothes. Now it is

completely destroyed. They've fled, leaving everything behind. The UN

panel of experts in Yemen found that the Saudi-led coalition had

seriously breached international humanitarian law in May, 2015. When

they declared the entire city and military targets, making no

distinction is between combatants and civilians. According to the

United Nations, the first wave of air strikes destroyed 1200

structures, amongst them five markets, a petrol station, 40% of

the population here are fled. On January the 21st, coalition jets

were circling nearby, waiting to strike. A bomb was dropped on a

residential area near the city. An ambulance driver was dispatched from

this hospital. Abdul was the driver. He arrived at the scene of the

airstrike in his ambulance. What happened next was captured on

camera. As with the funeral mean in Sanaa, a Saudi coalition plane

carried out a second airstrike, just as civilians were aiding the

wounded. He picked up some of the injured, a

coalition jet was still overhead. His ambulance took a direct hit.

Abdul and 17 other people were killed in the three airstrikes. 36

were injured. The double tap funeral bombing in

Sanaa on the eighth of October was one of thousands of coalition air

strikes since March last year. The bombs in the strike all came from

one place. The United States. I've come to Washington, DC, the United

States government has been the Saudi-led coalition's strongest

backer. Providing intelligence, logistical and advisory support.

Billions of dollars of US weapons sales have been approved. After the

funeral bombing, the White House announced an immediate review of US

support. Expressing serious concern about how the conflict is being

waged. Despite this, we've learnt that the US air force refuelled

coalition jets the day after the airstrikes. In a four week period

since then, US tankers flew over 87 missions, refuelling 386 aircraft

with over 1.7 billion litres of fuel. Indeed this is slightly higher

than the monthly average support given by the US since the air

campaign again. There's also been growing pressure in Congress about

assistance. This representative serves as a colonel in the US air

force reserves. He's been following the campaign closely. We're flying

out tankers with US pilots, we are fuelling this jets at the Saudi led

coalition and then they are dropping bombs. But if you look at

international law you can be guilty of aiding and abetting war crimes,

so if you are in that collect -- direct military operation, my view

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

This week the White House released a provisional statement following the

funeral bombing. For the first time since the war began they are

blocking the supply of precision ammunitions to Saudi Arabia, but the

refuelling of coalition jets which only the US has the capacity to do

will continue. No current US official would give me an interview,

but a recently retired senior State Department ambassador, who worked on

Yemen during the first year of the war, agreed to talk to me. I don't

believe that Saudi Arabia is guilty of war crimes and I don't think the

US or the UK for that matter is complicit. So you have to be careful

about the way you make the assumption that it has to be on the

basis of a clear examination and investigation of the facts before

you can say that this was a -- in fact a war crime, and intent has to

be there. The funeral hall is said to be preserved as a monument to

those who died. The UN estimates that more than 4000 people had been

killed by coalition airstrikes. 60% civilians. The Saudi-led coalition

says this figure is exaggerated. Many Yemenis hope that the outcry

following the funeral bombing would have an impact. The United States is

now reconsidering its position. But, for now, the airstrikes and the war

continue. It is very quiet

weather at the moment. Even our Weather Watchers found it

difficult to find any sunshine. A lovely picture, though,

taken earlier on in Hampshire.