UN Aid Delivery to Yemen Hampered by Saudi-Led Airstrikes: Report
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Delivery of UN-provided relief supplies to the lifeline airport that lies in Yemen’s capital Sana’a has been hampered by the continuous Saudi-led coalition airstrikes against the impoverished country, a report said.
“The airport is no longer able to receive aircraft operated by the United Nations or international humanitarian organizations,” an airport official told AFP on Tuesday, calling on the United Nations to secure a halt to the raids.
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) confirmed the news, saying, “Aid delivery to the airport is now at a standstill.”
The Saudi regime and a coalition of its allies launched the war in March 2015 to restore power in Yemen to the country’s former Riyadh-allied officials.
The airport was already almost cut off from the rest of the world due to a blockade that the coalition has been enforcing against Yemen since it began the war.
Last month, a UN Development Program report said the war would have claimed 377,000 lives by the end of the year through both direct and indirect impacts.
The coalition has notably intensified its attacks against the Yemeni capital over the past months.
The last of the raids hit the city on Monday, with the coalition claiming it had carried out "a limited number of precision strikes on legitimate military targets in Sana’a international airport."
Khaled al-Shayef, the airport’s director-general, however, said the "health quarantine quarters and warehouses to store export and import goods were destroyed."
The NRC’s country director Erin Hutchinson said, “Last night’s attacks on Sana’a airport…should serve to open the world’s eyes to the madness that is punishing millions of civilians who have no say in this conflict.”