Preface:

The children of Al-Qulais village in the Bani Matar district of Sana’a Governorate were not supposed to feel fear or anxiety as they headed to school, until Sunday, August 25, 2024. Like all their peers worldwide, they assumed that school was one of the safest places for them. But their school was not. They did not find out until the morning of that day, when the floor and walls of the first-grade classroom were covered with their blood, and the school, and indeed the entire village, were filled with their screams.

The students had crowded into their classrooms and taken their places, waiting for their teachers, when they heard a huge explosion nearby. Some of them ran out to find out what was happening, and the screams of the children led them to the disaster in the first-grade classroom. Surrounded by thick smoke and small bodies lying terrified and covered in blood, they found the dreadful answer: the explosion took place here.

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Three versions of one incident: deliberate disinformation. Who should we believe?

Commenting on the Houthi media disinformation, an account on the X platform (formerly Twitter) named Khalil Al-Omari shared the Sana’a police statement and wrote: “The police statement was very accurate. It said that a child brought a projectile found in an area near the school. But your press said it was left behind by the aggression.” He added, surprised: “Sana’a and its surroundings have not witnessed ground battles, and if the projectile was left behind by the ‘aggression,’ then a warplane dropped it.” He wondered: “Can a seven-year-old child carry a projectile to class?”

The villagers’ account is largely plausible, given the number of casualties (34 boys and girls). This number is unlikely to be caused by ordinary bombs or small projectiles that can be carried by a child. The fact that the injured children were no older than seven makes it difficult to imagine that one of them carried the projectile from outside the school and easily brought it into the classroom. The explosive device was likely inside the classroom and not from outside. Other facts make this conclusion very likely. The Houthis’ use of schools for military purposes is not uncommon.

The Houthis benefit from the expertise of Iran and Hezbollah in disinformation, manipulating information, and using it to suppress dissent. Hezbollah’s support is not limited to hosting Houthi-run media networks; it also extends to training media professionals, particularly what is known as “war media,” an Iranian term for military media, which has emerged in Iranian-led conflict zones in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen.

Combating this challenge took a lot of time, effort, and resources: “We resorted to conducting field surveys,” says Al-Hajj.

The use of disinformation in warfare is not new; the Nazis used it during World War II. Mechanisms of media disinformation include direct deception through the dissemination of fabricated news and manipulation of context by presenting accurate information while removing its context to alter its meaning. Those who resort to disinformation often have motives, the most important of which are to evade responsibility, discredit opponents, and exacerbate societal divisions to divert attention from key issues. The danger of media disinformation lies in the erosion of trust in institutions, misleading public opinion by making flawed collective decisions, obstructing accountability, allowing parties to escape punishment by distracting public opinion, and fueling violence and conflict by promoting organized hate speech.

According to Mutahhar Al-Buthiji, executive director of the Rasd Coalition, in monitoring human rights violations, it is crucial to emphasize how the Houthis use media disinformation as a means of evading responsibility for violations, especially grave violations against children. Al-Buthiji said, “Monitoring and documenting the methods and techniques of media disinformation used by the Houthis and other parties to the conflict is important for preserving victims’ rights and is a fundamental step towards achieving justice through accountability.” Al-Buthiji indicated the Coalition’s interest and enthusiasm in continuing its work through their own Monitoring and Documentation Unit, relying on open-source information to document and refute disinformation.

Conclusion:

 The incident at the Al-Qulais village school in Bani Matar is a stark example of the use of media disinformation as a tool to obscure the truth and evade accountability. This incident adds to the Houthi group’s record of repeated violations against civilians, especially children. By transforming schools into military barracks and ammunition depots, the group not only violated international humanitarian law but also put innocent lives at risk under the rubble of systematic lies.