A Million More Children Face Famine in Yemen, NGO warns

MOHAMMED AWADH/ SAVE THE CHILDREN

A 14-month-old child suffering from malnutrition receives treatment at a clinic in the city of Amran

A further one million children are at risk of famine in Yemen, the charity Save the Children has warned.

Rising food prices and the falling value of the country's currency as a result of a civil war are putting more families at risk of food insecurity.

But another threat comes from fighting around the key port city of Hudaydah, which is the principal lifeline for almost two-thirds of the population.

Save the Children says a total of 5.2 million children now face famine.

The conflict in Yemen has been raging for years - but what is it all about?

Yemen has been devastated by a conflict that escalated in early 2015, when the rebel Houthi movement seized control of much of the west of the country and forced President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi to flee abroad.

Alarmed by the rise of a group they saw as an Iranian proxy, Saudi Arabia and eight other Arab states intervened in an attempt to restore the government. They have received logistical and intelligence support from the US, UK and France.

Many families in rebel-held Yemen are reliant on food handouts from aid groups

At least 6,660 civilians have been killed and 10,563 injured in the conflict, according to the UN. Thousands more civilians have died from preventable causes, including malnutrition, disease and poor health.

The fighting and a partial blockade by the coalition have also left 22 million people in need of humanitarian aid, created the world's largest food security emergency, and led to a cholera outbreak that is thought to have affected 1.1 million people.

Why can people no longer afford food?

The war has also led to severe delays in paying the salaries of teachers and public servants, with some people receiving no wages for almost two years.

Those who are paid face food prices which are 68% more expensive than when the war began.

Meanwhile, the Yemeni riyal has lost almost 180% of its value over the same period, according to Save the Children.

Earlier this month, the currency reached its lowest value in history, placing a further burden on population.

Fears also remain of potential damage to or a blockade of Hudaydah's port as a result of the fighting.

The UN has warned that in a worst-case scenario, the battle for Hudaydah could cost up to 250,000 lives, as well as cut off aid supplies to millions of people living in rebel-held areas.

"Millions of children don't know when or if their next meal will come," the chief executive of Save the Children International, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, said in a statement.

"In one hospital I visited in north Yemen, the babies were too weak to cry, their bodies exhausted by hunger.

"This war risks killing an entire generation of Yemen's children who face multiple threats, from bombs to hunger to preventable diseases like cholera," she added.

Earlier this month, Save the Children said that more than 36,000 children could die from extreme hunger before the end of the year.

Thank you, Mr Obama for putting billions of dollars back into the hands of Iranians so they can continue to sponsor this proxy war. 

50 Dead, Mostly Kids, in Saudi-led Coalition's 'Legitimate' Airstrike on Yemen Bus

If Yemen were Gaza - MSM and liberal governments would be

running around in circles with their hair on fire. 

But it isn't, and there is only silence.

A Yemeni man holds a boy who was injured by an airstrike in Saada, Yemen. © Naif Rahma / Reuters

Fifty people died in a bus attack in Yemen and 77 were injured, most of whom were children, the International Committee of the Red Cross stated, citing officials. The Saudi-led coalition has called the attack "legitimate."

The attack took place in Dahyan Market in northern Saada, a Houthi rebel stronghold, on Thursday morning.

The Saudi-led coalition later said the airstrikes were aimed at missile launchers used to attack the southern Saudi city of Jiza, claiming its strike constituted a "legitimate action." It went on to accuse Houthi rebels of using children as human shields.

The tragic incident has prompted the ICRC to once again call for the protection of civilians during conflicts. “Twenty million Yemeni people are in need of [humanitarian] aid. The ICRC has always called upon all parties of the conflict to [find] a political solution… in order to curb worsening humanitarian conditions,” Mirella Hodeib from the ICRC earlier told RT.

It's not the first time the coalition has hit a residential area this month. Just one week ago, an air raid in Hodeidah seaport claimed the lives of 55 civilians. An additional 170 were wounded.

"We see violations across the country and it's really sad to speak about civilian casualties in a matter of less than a week. So for us, this is painful...this is just horrific," Hodeib said.

The similarities between this situation and the violence between Israel and Gaza are significant. Both the Houthis and the Palestinians use children as shields when they launch missiles into the other country. However, Israel manages to take out these facilities with few, if any, civilian casualties. They haven't killed 50 civilians in 2 years of far more intense fighting. The Saudis are averaging 50 per week. Yet, do you hear the outcry from the world's media, from western governments, from anyone? Deafening silence! Why?

'Devastating’: Yemen’s Cholera Endemic Hits 1 Million Mark

A woman holds her son who is suspected of being infected with cholera in Sanaa. © Khaled Abdullah / Reuters

Yes, there is a woman in this photo - she's invisible, as are all women in devout Islam

Yemen’s cholera outbreak has surpassed the 1 million mark while 300 cases of diphtheria have been reported as civilians in the war-ravaged country continue to face starvation and a crippling blockade. “We can confirm that the country has now reached 1 million suspected cases of cholera,” the International Committee of the Red Cross said. “This is devastating.”

The World Health Organization has recorded 2,226 deaths since the epidemic began in April. Cholera causes severe diarrhea and dehydration and is spread by dirty water and the contamination of food with feces. It can cause death within hours if untreated.

The ICRC also said over 80 percent of Yemen is in need of food, clean water, healthcare and fuel.

The country is in the grips of a brutal war, with a Saudi-led coalition of nine countries conducting airstrikes against the Houthi rebels in support of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, who fled the country in 2015.

The Houthis were in alliance with long-running former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who they killed in December after indicating he was changing sides and seeking dialogue with the Saudis.

The Houthi rebels are supported by Iran, which is also accused of supplying weapons to the group, a charge which Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif described as “baseless accusations,” on Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia has imposed a blockade on the country, which has further intensified the food and aid shortage. On Wednesday, it said it would keep the rebel-controlled port of Hodeidah open for 30 days to allow humanitarian deliveries to get into the country.

In January, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the civilian death toll had reached 10,000, citing data gathered by health facilities, and said the actual number could be much higher.  

The United Nations on Tuesday said coalition airstrikes had killed at least 136 civilians between December 6 and 16.

“We urge all parties to the conflict to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law, including their obligation to respect the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution,” Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said.“They should take all feasible precautions to avoid, and in any event to minimise, the impact of violence on civilians.”

Meanwhile, MSF announced in Geneva on Thursday the country also faces a diphtheria outbreak, with more than 300 cases reported. “In Yemen, the last diphtheria case was recorded in 1992, and the last outbreak in 1982,” MSF Emergency Coordinator said. “The ongoing war and blockade is sending Yemen’s health system decades back in time.”

At about the same time as the above report came out,

the Pentagon confirms ‘multiple ground ops & 120+ strikes’ in Yemen 

Why is the US in Yemen?

A man walks past a graffiti, denouncing strikes by U.S. drones in Yemen, painted on a wall in Sanaa, Yemen

on November 13, 2014. © Khaled Abdullah / Reuters

The Pentagon has disclosed that it carried out “multiple ground operations” in Yemen this year. The confirmation sheds new light on largely covert US military activities in the region.

US forces have conducted “multiple ground operations and more than 120 strikes in 2017,” according to a statement released by US Central Command in Tampa, Florida. The US military hopes to prevent Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and Islamic State from using Yemen “as a hub for terrorist recruiting, training and base of operations to export terror worldwide,” the statement reads.

The 120 claimed strikes against targets in Yemen would mark a 3-fold increase compared to the number of airstrikes from last year.

Before Wednesday’s statement, there had been few official disclosures of the extent of US military involvement in Yemen. In sharp contrast to the fight against IS in Syria and Iraq, the Pentagon has avoided holding regular briefings or updates on ground or air operations in Yemen.

However, there are sporadic reports of US military activity in the country. US Central Command said earlier this month that five Al-Qaeda militants had been killed in a US airstrike that took place on November 20 in Yemen’s Bayda Governorate.

The Pentagon previously acknowledged that the US “has people on the ground” in Yemen. According to media reports, in April, US special operations forces stepped up ground operations in Yemen, but military officials did not elaborate on the matter. It is still unclear exactly how many US boots are on the ground in Yemen. A White House report submitted to Congress last week detailing US military operations worldwide failed to disclose the number of US troops stationed in Yemen.

In February, it was revealed that a botched US raid in the country had left at least 25 civilians and one Navy SEAL dead. Inquiries into the disaster found that the raid yielded no significant intelligence, but the Trump administration nonetheless praised the mission as a success. Apart from the deaths, a $70 million military helicopter was also destroyed.

The latest acknowledgement of US ground operations in Yemen raises questions about the legality of such activity with respect to Yemen’s sovereignty.

Kim Sharif, director of Human Rights for Yemen, said in March, “the Yemeni people are saying: ‘Where are the other powers in the Security Council? Why aren’t they standing up for the sovereignty of Yemen, when clearly it is in their best interest as well to do so, because they surely must have business interest, commercial interest to protect and preserve the sovereignty of Yemen for the purpose of preserving that international passage for the benefit of all.’”