UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th February, 2021) United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric called on Tuesday for the cessation of all hostilities in Yemen's Marib governorate following the rebel Houthi movement's advances there.
"The renewed fighting in Marib is a real threat to the internally-displaced people, and none of this fighting also in any way helps getting us back to a political track," Dujarric said during a press briefing. "So, indeed, we feel that fighting should stop."
On Monday, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock said the escalation threatens to trigger a new mass wave of displacement in Marib, where one million people have already been uprooted.
Yemen has been engulfed in an armed conflict between the government forces led by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and the Houthi rebels since 2014. A coalition of states led by Saudi Arabia launched a military operation to support the internationally recognized Hadi government in 2015. The Houthis continue to maintain control over a vast part in the north of the country, including the capital of Sanaa.
