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Toll in Saudi war on Yemen nears 4,000: Report

Thursday, 14 May 2015 4:44 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 14 May 2015 4:58 PM ]

Smoke billows following an air strike by Saudi Arabia on May 11, 2015, in the Yemeni capital Sana'a. (AFP photo)

Saudi aerial attacks on Yemen have so far claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 people across the impoverished country, a report says.

According to a recent report by Freedom House Foundation, nearly seven weeks of Saudi airstrikes have claimed the lives of 3,979 Yemeni people so far while more than 6,887 others have been wounded.

The foundation further said that most of the victims of the deadly Saudi campaign are civilians, including a large number of women and children.

The group noted that the actual death toll is much higher as it does not include hundreds of people listed as missing.

Thousands of residential buildings have been destroyed and hundreds of civil and public facilities were reduced to rubble as a result of the bombardments by Saudi warplanes on the Yemeni cities and towns, the group said.

Meanwhile, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization has recently warned of a “catastrophic” humanitarian situation in Yemen, saying more than 15 million Yemenis are suffering from food insecurity in the wake of Saudi airstrikes.

Dominique Burgeon, the emergencies director at the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said on Wednesday that the Saudi attacks have caused severe shortages in water, fuel and medical aid in Yemen.

He also urged the international community to help lift the Yemenis out of the situation by allocating funds and resuming trade with the war-ravaged country.

Saudi Arabia started its military aggression against Yemen on March 26 - without a UN mandate - in a bid to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement, which currently controls the capital, Sana’a, and other major provinces, and to restore power to the fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, who is a staunch ally of Riyadh.

According to the latest UN figures, the Saudi military campaign has so far claimed the lives of over 1,400 people and injured close to 6,000 others, roughly half of whom have been civilians.

JR/KA/GHN

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