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Sorry - this page has been removed. Humanitarian situation in Yemen 'catastrophic' – Red Cross
(about 1 month later)
This could be because it launched early, our rights have expired, there was a legal issue, or for another reason. The humanitarian situation in Yemen has become catastrophic, relief officials said on Monday, as Saudi-led aircraft pounded Iran-allied Houthi militiamen and rebel army units for a second day, dashing hopes for a pause in fighting to let aid in. Residents said warplanes flew between 15 and 20 sorties against groups of Houthi fighters and arms depots in the provincial capital Dhalea and the nearby city of Qa’ataba, between dawn and 9am local time, setting off a chain of explosions that lasted for two hours.
Fighting intensified on Sunday, after a lull following an announcement by Riyadh last week that it was ending its nearly five-week-old bombing campaign, except in places where the Houthis were advancing, to allow access for food and medicine.
A coalition of Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia, rattled by what they saw as expanding Iranian influence in the Arabian Peninsula, is trying to stop Houthi fighters and loyalists of former president Ali Abdullah Salah taking control of Yemen. But the air campaign has had little success and vital aid was reported to be being held up by both sides. Houthis were stopping convoys of trucks reaching the southern port city of Aden, and an arms blockade by Saudi-led coalition navies searching ships for weapons was holding up food deliveries by sea.
“It was difficult enough before, but now there are just no words for how bad it’s gotten,” said International Committee of the Red Cross spokeswoman Marie Claire Feghali. “It’s a catastrophe, a humanitarian catastrophe.”
Yemen’s human rights minister, Izzedine al-Asbahi, agreed. “The war and its results have turned Yemen back 100 years, due to the destruction of infrastructure ... especially in the provinces of Aden, Dhalea and Taiz,” he told a news conference in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.
Telecommunications within Yemen and with the outside world could be cut within days due to a shortage of fuel, state-run news agency Saba quoted the director of telecommunications as saying. Fuel shortages were also preventing traders from moving food to market, the United Nations’ World Food Programme said.
Fuel prices were as much as £7 a litre, and there was only enough to keep hospitals running for one more week and to prolong life-saving humanitarian operations for two weeks, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said.
A commercial oil tanker has been waiting outside Yemeni waters since 21 April for clearance to dock, the UN said.
Saudi-led warplanes also struck the area around the presidential compound in Sana’a for a second day, while heavy street fighting was under way in the strategic city of Taiz in central Yemen, according to residents and the ICRC. There were no immediate reports on the extent of casualties.
The UN said mortar fire had reportedly been directed at a hospital in Taiz, where ambulances and mobile clinics were looted on April 25.
Hisham Abdul Wahab, a resident of a Sana’a district hit by a big blast last week, said he had tried but failed to stay on. “Some people began returning to the neighbourhood, but the strikes began again and now they’re leaving a second time. The place is devastated: there are no roads, no water and no electricity,@ he said. “Nobody’s left but thieves.”
The violence has killed more than 1,000 people, including an estimated 551 civilians, since the bombings started on 26 March, the United Nations said on Friday. Its children’s agency Unicef said at least 115 children were among the dead.
In Aden, a Saudi airstrike on a building where Houthi snipers had been based killed at least two civilians and wounded two others, residents and a local official said. Medical sources and residents also said that Houthi fighters stormed into Aden’s al-Jumhouriyah hospital, the largest in the city, and that many patients fled the compound, apparently fearing it may be targeted by Saudi-led warplanes.
For further information, please contact: Residents said bread was in short supply in Aden and a convoy of trucks carrying flour from the Red Sea port of Hodeida was being prevented by the Houthis from entering the city.
The UN said three ships, one carrying 13,500 tonnes of rice, were awaiting clearance at Hodeida, and six more carrying fuel, corn, vegetable oil, unrefined sugar, steel and timber were awaiting clearance from the coalition to dock at the nearby port of Salifa.
Residents said there were at least five air raids on areas under Houthi control in Marib and al-Jouf in northern Yemen and heavy clashes continued in Taiz, where armed Sunni tribesmen and Islamist fighters have taken back several districts from the Houthis in heavy fighting, according to residents there.
Residents said street battles were raging in the city of some three million, with both sides using tanks and artillery in residential areas. “The heaviest street fighting is taking place in Taiz. Airstrikes also continued in Aden,” Jabeen said.