Mosab Alhattami's unfinished journey

In March this year, Mosab Alhattami packed his bags and left Amsterdam, the city where he had arrived in 2019. He was carrying four cameras, each with a specific mission, a film idea and gifts for the family he had left nine years earlier. Alhattami decided to return to his homeland of Yemen, to the desert city of Marib, where his mother and father, journalist Abdulhafiz Alhattami, live.

This coincided with the arrival of Ramadan, which he celebrated with them. Abdulhafiz Alhattami: “During the Eid, we visited all the beautiful places in the city: parks, historical sites and friends” houses.“ After the festivities ended, on the night of 25 April 2025, Mosab went to visit his father, who was sitting in his courtyard, as was customary in the desert city. His father: ”He was very happy to have finished his script for a documentary about life in a besieged city."

The attack

Mosab Alhattami, who had trained as a filmmaker in Jordan, pointed his camera at his brother, photojournalist Suhaib. The latter then asked him to accompany him to a suburb of Marib the next day. There, he began filming the besieged city and its inhabitants. He had set up his cameras so that they could capture every angle.

Suddenly, at 4pm on 26 April 2025, during street interviews, a drone flew over, launched by the Houthis, who control the surrounding mountains and surround the city from three sides. The drone carried three guided missiles. The first missile targeted the interviewees, who died on the spot. The second and third missiles followed and struck Mosab Alhattami and his brother. Ambulance workers arrived, but Mosab died on the way, before reaching the nearest hospital, Kari General Hospital.

He had been aware of the risks, his father said. But never had he expected to be personally attacked, becoming the 50th journalist killed in Yemen in the past decade.

Passion for the camera

Mosab Alhattami's passion for the camera began at an early age, as he stared intently into his father's camera. This passion culminated with the making of his first film, ‘Ehsan’, in which he explores the theme of empathy for children who have lost their parents.

In 2020, his film ‘To Paradise’ was selected for the Golden Short Film Festival in Italy. The film tells the story of two young Yemeni men who fled to Europe before the war. In the Netherlands, Alhattami worked on producing documentaries for channels such as Al Jazeera and Al Jazeera Documentary Channel.

His friend Ali Al-Faqih, a journalist from Rotterdam, says: “I didn't believe at first that Mosab had died. For one thing, he was not interested in war. He was always passionate about art and talked about the latest films. When I met him in Amsterdam, he would take me to an event or a museum.

I was amazed at his resourcefulness, intelligence and ability to quickly integrate into a new society. He was punctual. We had to plan every meeting and we agreed to see each other again after his return.”

A return that ultimately never materialised.

This article previously appeared in 360 Magazine.