Raytheon GBU-12 Bomb Kills Six Civilians Including Three Children in Yemen Village Attack

On June 28, 2019, a Saudi-led coalition airstrike struck a village in Yemen’s Dhamar governorate, killing six civilians including three children, using a weapon identified by Amnesty International as a Raytheon-manufactured GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided bomb. The attack occurred just eight days after the Senate voted to block Raytheon Paveway sales to Saudi Arabia (June 20) and one month before President Trump would veto those congressional resolutions (July 24), demonstrating that Saudi forces continued using previously-delivered Raytheon weapons to kill civilians even as Congress debated restricting future sales. Amnesty International weapons experts examined remnants at the strike site and positively identified the Raytheon GBU-12 based on manufacturer markings and components. The six civilian deaths represented another entry in the growing ledger of Yemeni casualties killed by Raytheon precision-guided munitions, with the attack occurring during the peak of congressional scrutiny over Yemen war crimes yet producing no interruption to Raytheon’s Saudi contracts or political influence.

Raytheon GBU-12 Identified by Amnesty

Amnesty International’s weapons experts conducted detailed analysis of bomb fragments recovered from the June 28 attack site, positively identifying the munition as a GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided bomb manufactured by Raytheon. The identification was based on examination of guidance system components, wing assembly markings, and other fragments bearing Raytheon’s distinctive manufacturer codes. The GBU-12 Paveway II represented one of Raytheon’s most widely-exported weapons systems, with thousands delivered to Saudi Arabia under successive US administrations’ arms sale approvals. The precision-guided weapon’s accuracy eliminated any technical excuse for civilian casualties—the attack killed exactly those people the coalition chose to target, with the weapon’s laser guidance allowing strikes within meters of intended impact points. Amnesty’s identification established a direct chain from Raytheon’s manufacturing facilities to civilian deaths, documenting the company’s weapons being used in attacks with no apparent military objective.

Three Children Among Six Killed

The attack’s victims included three children, highlighting the Yemen war’s devastating impact on civilians and particularly on children. The inclusion of children among the casualties violated fundamental principles of international humanitarian law requiring special protections for minors in armed conflict. Amnesty International noted that the village had no apparent military significance or Houthi military presence that could have constituted a legitimate target. The attack pattern—striking a village with no military objectives and killing civilians including children—suggested either catastrophically poor intelligence or deliberate targeting of civilians, both violations of laws of war. The children’s deaths occurred during a period when international organizations including UNICEF had extensively documented the Yemen war’s toll on children, with thousands killed or maimed by coalition airstrikes. Yet this documentation produced no meaningful policy changes, and Raytheon weapons continued killing Yemeni children months after the 2018 school bus massacre that had killed 40.

Timing During Congressional Review

The June 28 attack occurred at a critical moment in US policy debates over Saudi arms sales. Just eight days earlier, the Senate had voted 53-45 to block Raytheon Paveway transfers to Saudi Arabia, specifically citing concerns about civilian casualties. The attack demonstrated that congressional scrutiny had not deterred Saudi coalition forces from continuing to use previously-delivered Raytheon weapons in strikes killing civilians. For congressional supporters of the arms sale restrictions, the attack provided real-time evidence that Saudi forces continued committing apparent war crimes while Congress debated future weapons access. However, the attack generated minimal media attention compared to larger-casualty incidents like the school bus massacre, allowing it to disappear into the growing catalogue of Yemen atrocities without forcing additional policy responses. President Trump would veto the congressional resolutions blocking Raytheon sales just 26 days after this attack, demonstrating that even ongoing civilian casualties during the debate period could not override his determination to protect defense contractor revenues.

Significance

The June 28, 2019 Raytheon GBU-12 attack killing six civilians including three children demonstrated the futility of congressional oversight attempts when defense contractors maintained executive branch support and accumulated weapons stockpiles enabled continued atrocities regardless of paused future sales. Amnesty International’s identification of Raytheon munitions in the attack—occurring just eight days after the Senate voted to block Raytheon Paveway sales—provided real-time evidence that Saudi forces continued using US weapons to kill civilians even during peak congressional scrutiny periods. The three children’s deaths represented another entry in the grim accounting of Yemeni child casualties enabled by Raytheon weapons, joining the 40 children killed in the 2018 school bus massacre and hundreds of others killed or maimed by coalition airstrikes using US munitions. The attack’s timing during congressional debates over arms sales restrictions revealed the inadequacy of incremental policy responses: blocking future Raytheon Paveway sales did nothing to prevent Saudi forces from using thousands of previously-delivered Raytheon weapons already in their stockpiles. For Raytheon, the attack represented another documented instance of its weapons being used in apparent war crimes, yet the company faced no accountability beyond the congressional restrictions that Trump would soon veto. The six civilian deaths—barely noted in media coverage focused on larger atrocities—illustrated how Yemen’s civilian toll was normalized through accumulation: any single incident killing six including children would constitute a major scandal if it occurred in isolation, but amid thousands of total casualties and dozens of documented Raytheon weapon attacks, each additional incident disappeared into an overwhelming catalogue of atrocities. The June 2019 attack marked another failure point in the accountability chain: Amnesty International documented the Raytheon weapon, congressional majorities voted to restrict sales, human rights organizations protested, but Trump vetoed the restrictions and Raytheon’s Saudi business continued uninterrupted, demonstrating that defense contractor political power could overcome documented evidence of weapons being used to kill children.