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U.N. Warns of ‘Total Collapse’ in Yemen as Houthis Continue Offensive U.N. Warns of ‘Total Collapse’ in Yemen as Houthis Continue Offensive
(about 7 hours later)
GENEVA — The United Nations’ human rights chief, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, warned on Tuesday that Yemen was on the brink of collapse, as his office said heavy fighting in the southern port city of Aden had left scores dead and its hospitals overflowing with bodies. CAIRO — The United Nations’ human rights chief warned on Tuesday that Yemen was on the brink of collapse, as health officials in the southern port city of Aden described a medical system failing after weeks of urban warfare that had left scores dead and hospitals overflowing with bodies. The warning from the human rights chief, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, came as a Saudi-led military offensive against the Houthis, a militia group from northern Yemen that Saudi officials have accused of serving as a proxy force for Iran, threatened to burst into a broader conflict.
Fierce clashes continued there on Monday between Shiite Houthi rebels, who are allied with Iran, and fighters loyal to President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, the exiled Yemeni leader, who is backed by Saudi Arabia and a coalition of Arab states. The Houthis, acknowledging their alliance with Iran but denying acting on its orders, have been able to extend their offensive, despite intensifying airstrikes by Saudi warplanes across Yemen.
“The situation in Yemen is extremely alarming, with dozens of civilians killed over the past four days,” Mr. al-Hussein, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, said in a statement. “The country seems to be on the verge of total collapse.” There have been few signs that the battle, which began last Wednesday, was shifting decisively in favor of any of the combatants, raising fears of a lengthy war that is expanding the destabilizing regional conflict between the Persian Gulf monarchies and Iran. With Yemen under blockade from air and sea by the Saudi-led coalition, aid agencies intensified their warnings on Tuesday about the toll on civilians and hospitals, which are running critically low on medical supplies.
“The situation in Yemen is extremely alarming, with dozens of civilians killed over the past four days,” Mr. al-Hussein said in a statement. “The country seems to be on the verge of total collapse.”
“The killing of so many innocent civilians is simply unacceptable,” he added.“The killing of so many innocent civilians is simply unacceptable,” he added.
Monday was the sixth day of a Saudi-led military offensive against the Houthis that is aimed at restoring Mr. Hadi to power. With few signs that the battle has shifted decisevely in favor of any of the combatants and with Yemen under blockade by air and sea, aid agencies intensified their warnings about the toll on civilians and hospitals, which are running critically low on medical supplies. Some hospitals have been bombed, as have private homes; schools; and civilian airports and power stations in the capital, Sana, and the cities of Saada and Al Hudaydah, the United Nations said, highlighting fears of the havoc that would result from a threatened ground invasion by Saudi forces and those of other nations.
The most dire warnings came from Aden, a dilapidated port city that has been ravaged for weeks by street fighting between pro-Hadi forces and units loyal to the Houthis and their allies. Residents said that water had been cut off for days and that electricity was out for hours at a time. Al-Khadher Laswar, a Health Ministry official in the city, described the situation as “miserable” and said doctors were overwhelmed by the flood of victims, including civilians struck by shelling or gunfire as the clashes coursed through neighborhoods. Unicef said in a statement on Tuesday that at least 62 children had been killed in fighting in Yemen over the past week. Mr. al-Hussein said he was shocked by a Monday Saudi airstrike on Al Mazraq, a camp in the north for displaced Yemenis, which caused scores of civilian casualties.
The fighting had made it impossible for paramedics to reach the victims in time, he said. “The ambulances are only used to transport the dead,” he said, adding that least 88 people had been killed over the last six days in the city alone. The United Nations human rights office said its staff had confirmed that at least 19 people were killed and that 35 others were wounded in that strike, but it noted that there were different accounts of the number of dead. The International Organization for Migration, which had workers in the camp, reported that 40 people had been killed.
As the military offensives, by both the Saudi-led forces and the Houthis, have gathered pace over the last few days, reports of civilian casualties have swelled. Mr. al-Hussein said he was shocked by a Saudi airstrike on Al Mazraq, a camp in northern Yemen for people displaced by the conflict, which caused scores of civilian casualties. Worries are growing over the fate of Aden, a tumbledown port that has been ravaged for weeks by street fighting between units allied with the Houthis and forces loyal to Yemen’s exiled president, Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, whom the Saudis are trying to restore to power.
The United Nations human rights office said its staff had confirmed that at least 19 people had been killed and that 35 others had been wounded in that strike, but it noted that there were different accounts of the number of dead. The International Organization for Migration, which had workers in the camp, reported that 40 people had been killed. Residents said that water had been cut off for days and that electricity was out for hours at a time. With few breaks in the fighting and fuel hard to come by, even fleeing the city has become perilous for many residents, who had remained sequestered at home for days.
The United Nations said an armored division of the Yemeni Army, together with Houthi forces, had attacked three hospitals in the southern city of Al Dhale, causing an unknown number of casualties. “We condemn all attacks on hospitals and call on all sides to protect civilians from harm,” the United Nations office said in a statement. Al-Khadher Laswar, a Health Ministry official in Aden, described the situation as “miserable” and said doctors were overwhelmed by the flood of victims, including civilians struck by shelling or gunfire as the clashes coursed through neighborhoods.
The International Committee of the Red Cross also expressed concern at the number of civilian casualties, reporting that a Yemeni volunteer for the Red Crescent, Omar Ali Hassam, had been shot to death on Monday while evacuating wounded people in the province of Al Dhale. The fighting had often made it difficult for medics to reach the victims in time, he said. “The ambulances are only used to transport the dead,” he said, adding that at least 88 people had been killed over the last six days in the city alone.
“There are casualties across the country,” Cédric Schweizer, head of the Red Cross team in Yemen, said in a statement. “There have been airstrikes in the north, west and south, and clashes between opposing Yemeni armed groups in the center and south, that are putting immense strain on already weak medical services.” Dounia Dekhili, the program manager for Doctors Without Borders in Yemen, said that organization’s physicians had treated more than 500 people in the last two weeks in Aden, including burn victims from explosions at an ammunition depot and passengers on a bus that had apparently come under shelling.
The Red Cross said it was trying to fly in medical supplies to replenish hospital stocks but had not been able to negotiate the safe arrival of the aircraft. The organization called for the urgent removal of obstacles to the delivery. Because of the blockade, Doctors Without Borders, one of the few international aid agencies still functioning in the country, had been unable to reinforce its surgical teams or bring in supplies, Ms. Dekhili said.
Hospitals, private homes, schools and civilian infrastructure have been hit in several locations, as have civilian airports and electricity generating stations in Sana, Saada and Al Hudaydah, the United Nations said, highlighting fears of the damage that would result from a threatened ground invasion by Saudi and other forces. “Instead of a surge of humanitarian assistance, the opposite is happening now,” she said.
A similar warning came from the International Committee of the Red Cross, which said it was trying to fly in supplies to replenish hospital stocks but had not been able to negotiate the safe arrival of the aircraft.
“We have reached out to absolutely everyone,” said Marie Claire Feghali, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross in Sana. “We are being delayed, but we continue to push.”
Some aid may have pierced the blockade. The state-run news media in Iran reported on Tuesday that the Iranians had airlifted humanitarian aid to Yemen, the first such delivery from Iran since the bombing campaign began.
The accounts did not specify precisely where the aid had been sent — or how the Iranians had evaded the blockade — but said it included 19 tons of medical supplies and two tons of food donated by the Iranian Red Crescent.
A Saudi military spokesman on Tuesday blamed the Houthis for the growing number of casualties, accusing them of fighting from inside civilian areas and putting residents at risk.
That assertion came in response to a swelling chorus of criticism of the Saudi military, including from Amnesty International, which said in a statement that 14 people had been burned to death, including at least six civilians, in Saudi airstrikes early Tuesday against a Houthi checkpoint and fuel depots.
In its statement, Amnesty International accused the coalition of “turning a blind eye to civilian deaths and suffering caused by its military intervention.”
The fighting has forced hundreds of families to flee their homes, adding to the more than 334,000 people the United Nations refugee agency reported as displaced in the months of conflict before the recent surge in hostilities.The fighting has forced hundreds of families to flee their homes, adding to the more than 334,000 people the United Nations refugee agency reported as displaced in the months of conflict before the recent surge in hostilities.
To escape the fighting, small numbers of Yemenis have started crossing the Red Sea to Somalia and Djibouti, said William Spindler, a spokesman for the refugee agency. “We are preparing for a larger influx,” he added.To escape the fighting, small numbers of Yemenis have started crossing the Red Sea to Somalia and Djibouti, said William Spindler, a spokesman for the refugee agency. “We are preparing for a larger influx,” he added.
The state-run news media in Iran, which has strongly denounced the Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen, reported on Tuesday that the Iranians had airlifted humanitarian aid to Yemen, the first such delivery from Iran since the strikes began.
The accounts did not specify precisely where the aid had been sent but said it included 19 tons of medical supplies and two tons of food donated by the Iranian Red Crescent. A report by the Islamic Republic News Agency of Iran also quoted a Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman as denying that Iran had sent military aid to the Houthis, calling such allegations lies.