NEW YORK (Anadolu) – At least 7.3 million people in Yemen need shelter and non-food assistance due to the Saudi-led war, the UN refugee agency said on Tuesday.
On Twitter, the UNHCR Yemen Office said 7.3 million Yemenis “require shelter & non-food assistance,” with 75% being women and children.
The agency added that an exhibition was being organized on Tuesday in the capital Sana’a, aimed at “presenting solutions to the soaring shelter needs.”
Saudi Arabia, backed by the U.S. and regional allies, launched the war on Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing popular Ansarullah. The war has left hundreds of thousands of Yemenis dead, and displaced millions more. It has also destroyed Yemen’s infrastructure and spread famine and infectious diseases.
Yemeni armed forces and the Popular Committees have grown steadily in strength against the Saudi-led invaders and left Riyadh and its allies bogged down in the country.

U.S. Spy Drone Downed

In a latest show of might, Yemeni army forces and fighters from their allied Popular Committees have managed to intercept and downed a U.S.-built Boeing Insitu ScanEagle spy drone operated by the Saudi-led military coalition as the aircraft was on a spying mission in the skies over the country’s central province of Ma’rib.
Yemeni air defense units shot down the unmanned aerial vehicle on Tuesday morning as it was carrying out hostile acts over the al-Jubah district, spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, announced via his Twitter page.
He added that the Yemeni Army is going to release the footage of the interception and shooting down of the U.S.-made spy drone in the near future.
Back on September 27, Yemeni army forces and their allies shot down a Saudi-led ScanEagle reconnaissance drone as the aircraft was flying over the Medghal district of Ma’rib province.
A Saudi-led ScanEagle reconnaissance drone was intercepted and struck over the same district on August 14, as the aircraft was on a spying mission.
Meanwhile, militants, who are loyal to Yemen’s former president Hadi and fighting within the Saudi-led coalition’s ranks, have received orders to evacuate their families from Ma’rib amid Yemenis’ advances.
Informed sources told Yemen News Portal website that the militants were initially based in Government House area, before they were ordered to transfer their families to al-Sharurah area on the border with Saudi Arabia.
Last week, several Yemeni parties, including al-Islah, blasted Saudi Arabia and its mercenaries for failing to stop the advances of Yemeni armed forces in Ma’rib province.