‘Yemen’s Hudaydah Residents in Critical Condition’
SANAA (Press TV) – The UN health agency has warned about the "critical” conditions of civilians in Yemen’s Hudaydah, which has been subject to a Saudi-led offensive for weeks, saying military operations in the key port city threaten over 70 percent of the population who are in need of relief aid.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said that the health conditions in Hudaydah were some of "the most dire in the country” even before the assault began last month on the Red Sea port, a lifeline for the majority of Yemen’s population.
Hudaydah, the WHO said, had registered the highest incidences of suspected cholera cases - around 14 percent of those reported nationwide - with 209 suspected cases of diphtheria and 252 of measles.
"The intensification of fighting in Hudaydah endangered not only those directly affected but also the 70 percent of the population who depended on vital supplies, including healthcare supplies, that flowed through Hudaydah port," WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said. "The port constituted a lifeline not only for the city but for all the northern governorates.”
Backed by Saudi-led airstrikes, Emirati forces and militants loyal to Yemen’s former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, launched the Hudaydah offensive on June 13 despite international warnings that it would compound the impoverished nation’s humanitarian crisis.
The Saudi-led coalition, which has been waging a war against Yemen since early 2015, claims that the Houthis are using Hudaydah for weapons delivery, an allegation rejected by the fighters.
The coalition of aggressors has, however, failed to make any major gains in the face of stiff resistance from Houthi fighters and their allied forces.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Jasarevic said that a total of 46 deaths and 328 injured were recorded in Hudaydah between June 13 and July 7.
Despite the decline in fighting, he added, the conditions for civilians remain "critical.”
He also warned that continued fighting "will likely further exacerbate the situation” in the port city, which has already been grappling with one of the highest malnutrition rates in Yemen.
Separately, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Tuesday that 1,316 Yemeni children were killed and maimed last year, 51 percent of them in Saudi airstrikes.
It also estimated that 842 boys had been recruited by various sides to the Yemeni conflict.
Additionally, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that half of the Yemeni population is living in areas directly affected by the conflict and that more than two thirds would require humanitarian aid during 2018.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said that the health conditions in Hudaydah were some of "the most dire in the country” even before the assault began last month on the Red Sea port, a lifeline for the majority of Yemen’s population.
Hudaydah, the WHO said, had registered the highest incidences of suspected cholera cases - around 14 percent of those reported nationwide - with 209 suspected cases of diphtheria and 252 of measles.
"The intensification of fighting in Hudaydah endangered not only those directly affected but also the 70 percent of the population who depended on vital supplies, including healthcare supplies, that flowed through Hudaydah port," WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said. "The port constituted a lifeline not only for the city but for all the northern governorates.”
Backed by Saudi-led airstrikes, Emirati forces and militants loyal to Yemen’s former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, launched the Hudaydah offensive on June 13 despite international warnings that it would compound the impoverished nation’s humanitarian crisis.
The Saudi-led coalition, which has been waging a war against Yemen since early 2015, claims that the Houthis are using Hudaydah for weapons delivery, an allegation rejected by the fighters.
The coalition of aggressors has, however, failed to make any major gains in the face of stiff resistance from Houthi fighters and their allied forces.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Jasarevic said that a total of 46 deaths and 328 injured were recorded in Hudaydah between June 13 and July 7.
Despite the decline in fighting, he added, the conditions for civilians remain "critical.”
He also warned that continued fighting "will likely further exacerbate the situation” in the port city, which has already been grappling with one of the highest malnutrition rates in Yemen.
Separately, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Tuesday that 1,316 Yemeni children were killed and maimed last year, 51 percent of them in Saudi airstrikes.
It also estimated that 842 boys had been recruited by various sides to the Yemeni conflict.
Additionally, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that half of the Yemeni population is living in areas directly affected by the conflict and that more than two thirds would require humanitarian aid during 2018.