The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is extremely concerned about the recent escalation of tensions in Yemeni Al Hudaydah governorate as civilians in need are unable to leave the area due to intense fighting, UNHCR said in a statement.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th November, 2018) The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is extremely concerned about the recent escalation of tensions in Yemeni Al Hudaydah governorate as civilians in need are unable to leave the area due to intense fighting, UNHCR said in a statement."UNHCR ... is extremely concerned about the recent intensification of conflict in Yemen's Al Hudaydah governorate and its impact on the civilian population as well as on humanitarian aid operations. Conflict has escalated significantly around Hudaydah City and eastern and southern areas of the Governorate. Fierce clashes, air strikes and shelling inflicted scores of civilian casualties," the statement said.
According to UNHCR, local residents, who need humanitarian assistance, are unable to leave this area as they are trapped by military operations.
"UNHCR is also especially concerned that fighting is blocking access to our humanitarian supplies in Hudaydah. A UNHCR warehouse stocked with emergency shelter and essential aid items for conflict affected and displaced Yemenis has been cut off by an active front line, even as the need for these items grows. UNHCR is urgently appealing to parties to the conflict to protect civilians and humanitarian personnel; and to secure humanitarian relief items stored in Al Hudaydah," UNHCR added.
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) warned that the international community would share the responsibility for the deaths and suffering of millions of people in case of failure to stop the current outbreak of hostilities.
"Al Hudaydah is at risk of being obliterated. We warned the international community that an offensive on the city was coming, and it has. We warned that the violence would see another half a million people flee their homes, and it did. We are now warning that by allowing this to go on, parties to the conflict and their international backers will be responsible for the death, injury and suffering of millions of people," NRC country director in Yemen Mohamed Abdi said.
The country director called the lack of action on the situation in Yemen from the United States and the United Kingdom, in particular, unconscionable.
"The humanitarian cost of this war is almost $3 billion this year alone but the cost to humanity completely inestimable. Senseless attacks on civilians, evidence of a starving population and desperate pleas from humanitarian witnesses have done little more than elicit condolences from an international community that could have stepped on the brakes long ago. The lack of action from the United States and the United Kingdom, in particular, is utterly unconscionable," Abdi added.
Al Hudaydah is an important entry point for food and humanitarian aid delivered to Yemen, which has particularly been affected by the conflict between the government forces - supported by a Saudi-led coalition - and the Houthi rebels.
In June, the Saudi-led coalition launched an offensive on Al Hudaydah, controlled by the Houthis, claiming that the militants allegedly received money and weapons deliveries via the port.
Deliveries of food and other humanitarian aid have become all the more urgent since the coalition imposed a blockade on Yemen after the former interfered in the conflict in 2015. As of the end of last year, around 14 million Yemenis face "pre-famine conditions," according to the United Nations.
