Saudi coalition 'endangers thousands of Yemeni lives daily'

Thousands of Yemenis are at risk of dying on a daily basis if the Saudi-led military coalition does not lift its blockade on the country's key ports, a famine survey warned on Tuesday.

The warning came after the World Food Programme (WFP) said millions of Yemenis face the risk of more deaths as aid deliveries cannot get to those in need because of the continuing blockade of the war-ravaged country by the Saudi-led coalition.

Using an internationally recognised scale for categorising food security, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) said that even before the current blockade, more than half of Yemen’s population was already in "crisis" (IPC Phase 3) or worse.

"Therefore, a prolonged closure of key ports risks an unprecedented deterioration in food security to Famine (IPC Phase 5) across large areas of the country," it said.

Within three to four months, famine is highly likely if ports remain closed. Some areas, which are less accessible are at greater risk. In such a scenario, shortages of food and fuel would drive up prices, and a lack of medical supplies would aggravate life-threatening diseases.

The head of the WFP Stephen Anderson said on Monday that it is “heartbreaking” that millions in Yemen depended on sustained access to humanitarian aid.

Of a population of 26 million, some 17 million Yemenis do not know where their next meal is coming from and 7 million are totally dependent on food assistance.

Humanitarian flights to the northern, rebel-held parts of Yemen have been grounded amid the blockade imposed by the coalition in response to a Houthi missile attack near the Saudi capital, Riyadh, earlier this month. The missile was struck down but it marked the closest that a rebel projectile had come to the kingdom’s capital.

After widespread international criticism of its blockade, Saudi Arabia said last week it would reverse its closure of Yemen’s sea ports and airports — though not those in the hands of the rebels known as Houthis.

The civil war in Yemen, an impoverished Arab nation in the southwest of the Arabian Peninsula, has killed at least 10,000 civilians since it broke out in 2014.