Red Cross Chief Visits Yemen amid Humanitarian Crisis

The situation in Yemen for all living things is deteriorating.

Yemen destruction Photo credit: almanar.com.lb

(SALEM, Ore.) - In late March, Saudi Arabia began its military aggression against Yemen – without a UN mandate – in a bid to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and to restore power to fugitive former president.

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has traveled to Yemen to assess the crippling humanitarian crisis in the impoverished country, which has been under heavy bombardment by the Saudi military for more than three months.

In a statement issued ahead of his three-day visit to Yemen on Saturday, ICRC President Peter Maurer, warned about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the violence-torn Arabian Peninsula state.

"The human cost of this conflict is such that no family in Yemen today has been left unaffected," said Maurer, adding, "We are particularly concerned about attacks on medical facilities and personnel."

The official further noted that the delivery of food, water and emergency medical aid to the affected areas "must be facilitated" rather than hampered in the war-ravaged country.

Late last month, the Geneva-based humanitarian institution also expressed concerns about the plight of civilians amid food, water and fuel shortage as well as Saudi air raids and ground clashes in the Arab country.

On March 26, Saudi Arabia began its military aggression against Yemen – without a UN mandate – in a bid to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and to restore power to fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, an ally of Riyadh.

According to the United Nations, the war on Yemen has killed about 4,000 people, nearly half of them civilians, since late March. Local Yemeni sources, however, put the fatality figure at a much higher number.

It is also estimated that 20.4 million people in Yemen, some 80 percent of the population, need access to safe drinking water and sanitation.