UN Warns on Yemen Aid as Saudi Reports Death of Border Soldiers
Local Editor
The United Nations warned fuel shortages threaten to halt all relief operations in Yemen "within days" as Saudi Arabia reported the first retaliatory cross-border attack of its five-week aggression.
The situation deteriorated as Yemen was the poorest Arab country before the aggression. UN agencies said Thursday that millions were at risk from any halt to food distributions.
The aggression launched by a Saudi-led coalition has halted the delivery of both humanitarian aid and commercial goods, including fuel.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the lack of fuel was preventing agencies on the ground from distributing even those stocks already inside the country, most of which are in the hands of rebels.
"Humanitarian operations will end within days unless fuel supplies are restored," Ban said.
He called for an "immediate resumption of fuel imports to avoid making the already catastrophic humanitarian situation in Yemen even worse."
The World Food Program said it was halting its food distribution in Yemen due to the severe fuel shortage.
The agency is in urgent need of more than 200,000 liters of fuel to be able to continue distributing food supplies already in its warehouses, stocks that can feed 1.5 million people for one month.
All airports are closed to civilian traffic and shipments by sea are being delayed.
Ban renewed his call for an immediate ceasefire and said, short of that, there should be humanitarian pauses in areas affected by the fighting.
Early last week, Riyadh announced a halt to the coalition air war but it has kept up its air strikes against the rebels and their allies within the armed forces every day since.
The Houthis have countered that there can be no resumption of UN-brokered peace talks until the bombing campaign stops.
Iran has proposed holding United Nations talks on ending the war at a neutral venue.
The Saudi defense ministry said that three of its troops had been killed but that the operation had been repulsed with the loss of dozens of rebel fighters and allied troops.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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