Yemenis on Twitter recount horrors of war

Yemenis on Twitter recount horrors of war
Yemenis are using Twitter to share their personal experiences and tell of the horrors of a war that has ravaging this poor Arab state for more than 300 days.
2 min read
27 Jan, 2016
Yemenis have suffered over 300 days of war [AFP]

It has been over 300 hundred days since the Saudi-led Arab coalition began its bombing campaign against Houthi rebels and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in Yemen at the end of March 2015.

The violence perpetrated by both the coalition and the rebels has killed close to 3000 civilians, and wounded over 5000 according to the UN.

The country that was already the poorest Arab state faces a humanitarian disaster as 10 months of conflict has left over 21 million people in 20 out of 22 governorates in need of humanitarian assistance according to a UNICEF report.

Meanwhile, the country's health facilities are on the brink of collapse, with more than 15.2 million Yemenis lacking access to healthcare according to the World Health Organisation.

Even hospitals and clinics have not been spared the daily violence. Doctors Without Borders reported that three of its medical facilities and an ambulance were destroyed in the past three months, mostly by Saudi-led coalition airstrikes.

On Tuesday, the Associated Press reported that a UN panel of experts recommended the creation of an international commission of inquiry to investigate alleged human rights abuses by all sides of the conflict.

The UN report also says civilians are suffering under tactics in the conflict that "constitute the prohibited use of starvation as a method of warfare."

With no end to the violence in sight, Yemenis who have been forced to live under these dire conditions for the past ten months took to twitter to share their experiences of horror using the hashtags #300DaysofWar and #10MonthsofSaudiWar.