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UN: Over 2,200 Yemenis killed in fighting since late March

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According to the UN, nearly 78 percent of the Yemeni population is in need of humanitarian assistance. (Al Bawaba/File)

According to the UN, nearly 78 percent of the Yemeni population is in need of humanitarian assistance. (Al Bawaba/File)

by Andolu Ajansi

At least 2,288 people have been killed and nearly 10,000 others were injured in Yemen since the beginning of a Saudi-led military campaign against the Shia Houthi militant group in late March, the U.N. said Friday.

“More than one million people have been displaced across all governorates in Yemen between the 26 March and the end of May,” Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a press conference at the U.N. in Geneva.

“Half of the new displacement — more than half a million people — has occurred in three governorates alone: Hajjah, Ad Dhale’e and Ibb. The number of displaced is expected to increase further over the coming weeks if the conflict continues,” Laerke said.

Nearly 20 million Yemenis are now in need of humanitarian assistance, which is 78 percent of the entire Yemeni population, the U.N. said.

The number of people who need humanitarian assistance in the country increased by 4 million with the Saudi intervention in March 2015, it added.

Meanwhile, talks are expected to start in June 14 at the U.N. in Geneva, with a view to ending the current fighting and restoring momentum toward a Yemeni-led democratic transition.

Fractious Yemen has remained in turmoil since last September, when Houthi militants overran Sana’a from which they have sought to extend their influence to other parts of the country.

On March 25, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies began an extensive air campaign targeting Houthi positions across the country.

Riyadh says its campaign comes in response to appeals by Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi — who is in Saudi Arabia — for military intervention against Houthi militants.

The Houthis, however, denounce the offensive as unwarranted “Saudi-American aggression” against Yemen.

Pakistan rules out sharing nukes with Saudis, anyone else

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Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry

Washington: Pakistan ruled out sharing its nuclear weapons with Saudi Arabia, insisting Thursday that the atomic arsenal would continue serving solely for the country’s national defence even as world powers and Iran near a possible nuclear agreement.

Closing a wide-ranging trip to Washington, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry angrily rejected speculation that his country could sell or transfer nuclear arms or advanced technology as “unfounded and baseless”.

Pakistan has long been among the world’s greatest proliferation threats, having shared weapons technology with Iran, Libya and North Korea. And American and other intelligence services have been taking seriously the threat of Saudi Arabia or other Arab countries potentially seeking the Muslim country’s help in matching Iran’s nuclear capabilities, even if the US says there is no evidence of such action right now.

“Pakistan is not talking to Saudi Arabia on nuclear issues, period,” Chaudhry insisted. The arsenal, believed to be in excess of 100 weapons, is focused only on Pakistan’s threat perception from “the East” Chaudhry said, a clear reference to long-standing rival and fellow nuclear power India.

Chaudhry said his country has significantly cracked down in recent years on proliferation, improving its export controls and providing UN nuclear monitors with all necessary information. Pakistan also won’t allow any weapons to reach terrorists, he said.

Pakistan detonated its first nuclear weapons in 1998, shortly after India did. At the same time, the man regarded as the father of Pakistan’s nuclear program, A Q Khan, was shopping advanced technology to many of the world’s most distrusted governments.

He sold centrifuges for enriching bomb-making material to the Iranians, Libyans and North Koreans, and also shared designs for fitting warheads on ballistic missiles. He was forced into retirement in 2001. Concerns now centre on how the governments of the Middle East will respond if the US and other governments clinch a nuclear deal with Iran by the end of the month.

Such questions inevitably lead to Pakistan, the only Muslim country in the nuclear club and one with historically close ties to Saudi Arabia. Saudi officials, for their part, have repeatedly refused to rule out any steps to protect their country, saying they will not negotiate their faith or their security.

Foreign secretary’s US visit
Aizaz Chaudhry during his visit to Washington DC attended a meeting of the Working Group on Strategic Security, Stability and Non-proliferation (SSS&NP) and held meetings with several senior diplomatic and military officials for US-Pakistan strategic dialogue.

The US State Department said Wednesday the agenda included “international efforts to enhance nuclear security” as well as non-proliferation and export controls.

It described the discussions as “productive” and said the governments would work together to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Speaking to reporters, Chaudhry praised the progress thus far in the Iran nuclear talks.

He told reporters that a diplomatic success would have significant economic benefits for Pakistan, allowing it to complete a long-sought gas pipeline project with its neighbor to the west.

During a meeting at the Pentagon with US Defence Undersecretary Christine Wormuth, both sides discussed a wide range of issues related to bilateral defence cooperation. Continuing high level exchanges and regular dialogues between defence communities of Pakistan and the US was agreed upon and Chaudhry appreciated the United States’ support in assisting Pakistan in its counter-terrorism campaign.

Both sides also reviewed developments in the region and agreed on the need to further strengthen mutually beneficial security cooperation.

Continuing his busy schedule in Washington DC, the foreign secretary met with the US Undersecretary for Treasury Adam J Szubin. Undersecretary Szubin oversees the US policy on economic sanctions and countering terrorist financing.

Chaudhry briefed Undersecretary Szubin on various legislative and administrative steps taken by the government in the domain of anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing. Sharing the key points of the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s National Action Plan (NAP), the foreign secretary highlighted the various implementation measures, in particular, the steps taken towards countering financing for terrorism.

Undersecretary Szubin praised Pakistan’s dedication and sacrifices in the fight against terrorism and noted the significant success achieved by the ongoing military operations in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

Undersecretary Szubin also appreciated the positive steps taken by the Pakistani government to meet international financial standards to monitor and interdict suspicious transactions.

Reviewing their collaboration in combating terrorism at the bilateral and multilateral levels, the two sides agreed to further intensify their cooperation.

Chaudhry also met Deputy Secretary of State, Tony Blinken in the Department of State today. The Foreign Secretary and the Deputy Secretary reviewed the state of bilateral relationship and expressed satisfaction over its growing momentum and positive trajectory.

The foreign minister apprised the deputy secretary on Pakistan’s effort to address the threat of terrorism. He underscored that the military operation, Zarb-i-Azb, was progressing well. He thanked the US for the cooperation extended in the post-operation relief and rehabilitation of temporarily dislocated peoples. The foreign secretary reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to a peaceful, stable and united Afghanistan.

Blinken lauded Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s efforts to reach out to Pakistan’s neighbours and hoped that his initiatives would help bring prosperity to the people of the region. He also noted the improved mutual trust and positive relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Separately, Chaudhry also held meeting with Dan Feldman, Special Representative on Afghanistan and Pakistan (SRAP). Both sides took stock of the recent developments in the region in wake of the visit of the SRAP to Pakistan last month.

(AP)

ISIL claims responsibility for Saudi mosque attack

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At least 21 people killed after suicide bomber detonates explosives during Friday prayers in Qatif province.

Qatif

by Al Jazeera

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group has claimed in an online statement that it carried out a deadly suicide bomb attack at a mosque in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province of Qatif.

The statement said “the soldiers of the Caliphate” were behind Friday’s attack by a suicide bomber “who detonated an explosives belt” in the mosque in the Shia-majority city of Qatif.

The group identified the bomber as Abu Amer al-Najdi, and published a picture of him.

Earlier on Friday, the Saudi interior ministry said in a statement that a suicide bomber had set off an explosion during weekly prayers at a Shia mosque, leaving at least 21 dead.

“It has been established that an individual detonated a bomb he was wearing under his clothes during Friday prayers at Ali Ibn Abi Taleb mosque in Kudeih in Qatif province,” the statement, which was carried by the official SPA news agency, said.

The ministry spokesman called the attack an act of terrorism, vowing that “Security authorities will spare no effort in the pursuit of all those involved in this terrorist crime”.

Pictures posted on social media purported to show the devastation, with dead bodies strewn across the floor and shattered glass covering the courtyard of the mosque.

Saudi Arabia’s Shia population is mostly based in two oasis districts of the Eastern Province, Qatif on the Gulf coast, and al-Ahsa, southwest of the provincial capital al-Khobar.

The community accounts for between 10 to 15 percent of the total population.

The attack was the first to target the Shia community in Saudi Arabia since November when gunmen killed at least eight people in an attack on a religious anniversary celebration, also in the east.

Suicide bomber attacks Shia mosque in Saudi Arabia

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At least seven people reportedly killed after attacker detonates explosives during Friday prayers in Qatif province.

About 150 people were praying in the mosque when it was attacked [Twitter]

About 150 people were praying in the mosque when it was attacked [Twitter]

by Al Jazeera

A suicide bomber has detonated his explosives at a Shia mosque in eastern Saudi Arabia during Friday prayers, killing at least seven people and wounding several others, witnesses said.

One witness described a huge explosion at the Imam Ali Mosque in a village in the province of Qatif, where more than 150 people were praying.

An activist told the AFP news agency that at least four worshippers were killed, while a source told the Reuters news agency that there appeared to be at least 30 casualties in the attack. More recent estimates have placed the death toll higher.

Pictures posted on social media purported to show the devastation, with dead bodies strewn across the floor and shattered glass covering the courtyard of the mosque.

Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from the capital Riyadh, said authorities expected the death toll the rise.

Saudi Arabia’s Shia population is mostly based in two oasis districts of the Eastern Province – Qatif on the Gulf coast, and al-Ahsa, southwest of the provincial capital al-Khobar.

Qatif and al-Ahsa have historically been the focal point of anti-government demonstrations.

The kingdom’s Shia community accounts for between 10 to 15 percent of the total population. They say they face discrimination in seeking educational opportunities or government employment and that they are referred to disparagingly in text books and by some Sunni officials and state-funded clerics.

They also complain of restrictions on setting up places of worship and marking Shia holidays, and say that Qatif and al-Ahsa receive less state funding than Sunni communities of equivalent size.

The Saudi government denies allegations of discrimination.

Saudi to purchase Pakistani nuclear weapons

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The Saudi-Pakistan talks come amid the P5+1 negotiations over Iran's nuclear program. (AFP/File)

The Saudi-Pakistan talks come amid the P5+1 negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. (AFP/File)

Saudi Arabia has reportedly held talks with Pakistan for the purchase of nuclear weapons amid the ongoing nuclear negotiations between world powers and Iran, according to a US senior official who spoke with The Sunday Times.

Tensions in the region have escalated in light of the framework agreement the United States and the other world powers have made with the Islamic Republic, with Saudi Arabia increasingly concerned with the repercussions of a deal that may see the easing of sanctions leaving Iran more legroom to continue developing weapons of mass destruction.

The strain in relations was evident when Saudi Arabia’s King Salman skipped a major summit in Washington this week, along with the leaders of three other Gulf nations.

“For the Saudis the moment has come,” The Sunday Times quoted a former US defense official as saying.

“There has been a long-standing agreement in place with the Pakistanis and the House of Saud has now made the strategic decision to move forward.”

Saudi Arabia is skeptical that any final, comprehensive deal with Iran will curb its nuclear ambitions, with the West’s engagement  having actually “opened the door to nuclear proliferation,” a military source told The Sunday Times

The agreement allows Iran to keep 5,000 uranium enrichment centrifuges at Natanz, and another 1,000 centrifuges at its underground enrichment facility in Fordow.

According to one senior British official who also spoke with The Sunday Times, military leadership from all Western countries “assume the Saudis have made the decision to go nuclear.”

“The fear is that other Middle Eastern powers — Turkey and Egypt — may feel compelled to do the same and we will see a new, even more dangerous, arms race.”

Fresh bombing in Yemen as humanitarian ceasefire ends

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Coalition warplanes target Houthi rebel positions in al-Sawlaban and al-Arish in Aden province, Saudi officials say.

Yemen

by Al Jazeera

Arab coalition nations have resumed air strikes against Houthi fighters in Yemen as a UN envoy called for an extension of a five-day humanitarian ceasefire that expired late Sunday.

The coalition targeted Houthi rebel positions in al-Sawlaban and al-Arish in Aden province, Saudi military officials said early on Monday.

Al-Masirah TV, a Houthi-backed channel, reported that Saudi troops were also shelling al-Manzala district in al-Dalih near the Yemen-Saudi border, in addition to Al-Ghawr mountain.

“I call on all parties to renew their commitment to this truce for five more days at least,” UN envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said earlier in Riyadh. “This humanitarian truce should turn into a permanent ceasefire.”

His appeal followed clashes between rebels and pro-government forces across south Yemen on Saturday despite the truce, which has largely held since starting on Tuesday at 2000 GMT.

Speaking in Seoul on Monday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said the US continues to support the idea of a humanitarian ceasefire in Yemen, but that such a truce was difficult given the current circumstances.

The official Saudi Press Agency, meanwhile, reported that the UN envoy met Saudi chief of staff Lieutenant General Abdulrahman bin Saleh al-Bunyan and discussed “humanitarian aid efforts” in Yemen.

Aid groups have called for a lasting truce in the impoverished country, where a Saudi-led regional coalition has waged an air war Houthis and their allies since late March.

Yemeni political parties began talks on Sunday in the Saudi capital aimed at finding a solution to the crisis. But the Houthis stayed away from the meeting of some 400 delegates, including President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who has taken refuge in Riyadh.

Hadi repeated accusations that the rebels had staged a “coup”.

“We are trying to regain our nation” from militias backed by “external” forces, he said in a reference to Iran, which has denied arming the rebels.

An Iranian aid ship bound for Yemen in defiance of US warnings has entered the Gulf of Aden and is expected to dock on Thursday, media in Tehran reported.

Clashes in Aden

Its mission has been overshadowed by US calls for it to head to a UN emergency relief hub in Djibouti instead of the Yemeni port of Hodeida.

Clashes raged overnight Saturday in the central city of Taiz between Houthis – supported by troops loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh – and pro-Hadi forces.

The rebels, who seized Sanaa in September and have since swept across many other regions, bombed a village south of Taiz, killing 14 civilians, a local official said.

Sporadic clashes also continued in Aden, the scene of fierce fighting since rebels advanced on the southern port in late March after Hadi took refuge there.

Aden health chief al-Khader Laswar said four people were killed in clashes Sunday and 39 were wounded, among them two children and four women.

Laswar has said that 517 civilians and pro-Hadi fighters have been killed there in the past 50 days. The toll includes 76 women and children, he said.

Quoted by the government news agency Sabanew.net, Laswar said he could not provide a toll for the rebels.

He added that 3,461 people were wounded, and said most Aden hospitals were currently out of service as “most” medics have fled.

The United Nations has expressed deep concern about the civilian death toll from the bombing as well as the humanitarian impact of an air and sea blockade imposed by the coalition.

It says more than 1,600 people have died in the conflict since late March.

Houthis intensify use of child soldiers, violating international law: HRW

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A Yemeni child lies in a bed at a hospital in the capital Sanaa on May 12, 2015, a day after he was wounded in an air strike by Saudi-led coalition hit an arms depot on the eastern outskirts of Sanaa. (AFP/Mohammed Huwais)

A Yemeni child lies in a bed at a hospital in the capital Sanaa on May 12, 2015, a day after he was wounded in an air strike by Saudi-led coalition hit an arms depot on the eastern outskirts of Sanaa. (AFP/Mohammed Huwais)

by Hayat Norimine, Al Bawaba

The Human Rights Watch called for an immediate stop to the use of child soldiers in Yemen’s armed groups Tuesday, as Houthi rebel group intensifies its recruitment of children to use in their fight against Yemen’s government loyalists.

The monitor said the groups’ use of child soldiers violates international law and should face prosecution. Since September 2014 the HRW said the armed militants have increasingly been using children, aged at least as young as 12, in the armed conflict. Some are used as scouts and first aid assistants, while others are trained to fight.

“All armed groups in Yemen should reject sending children to battle or using them to support fighting,” HRW special adviser Fred Abrahams said. “The cost to these young people – the trauma, the injuries, and the lost schooling – is huge, as is the cost to Yemen’s future.”

Children with the Houthis and other armed groups make up about a third of all fighters in Yemen, according to UNICEF. Armed groups have recruited at least 140 children in one month alone, from late March to April.

The HRW said there have been several reports of 14- to 16-year-old soldiers carrying rifles and handguns from all parties of the war. One witness told the organization of a 7-year-old Houthi fighter standing at a checkpoint with an assault rifle.

A Houthi recruiter told the organization the children in active combat receive military training, while others provide first aid, collect bodies, carry food and ammunition or serve as guards.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon published a list of violations against children in May that included the use of children in armed forces by armed forces in Yemen.

The Human Rights Watch interviewed several children who had been recruited by the Houthis to fight in the war and wounded, including a boy who was shot in the chest and continued to fight after recovery.

Coalition dropping US-made cluster bombs on Yemen

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Human rights group warns that cluster munitions have fallen near villages, posing long-term danger to civilians

An expended BLU-108 canister from a CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapon found in the al-Amar area of al-Safraa, Saada governorate, in northern Yemen on April 17, 2015. (Photo via HRW.org)

An expended BLU-108 canister from a CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapon found in the al-Amar area of al-Safraa, Saada governorate, in northern Yemen on April 17, 2015. (Photo via HRW.org)

by Lauren McCauley, Common Dreams

The Saudi-led bombing campaign against rebels in Yemen is using U.S.-supplied cluster munitions, endangering civilians and violating an international arms treaty, Human Rights Watch warned on Sunday.

According to the group, there is “credible evidence” that cluster bombs have been used in recent weeks as part of coalition airstrikes in Yemen’s northern Saada governorate, a Houthi stronghold that borders Saudi Arabia. Through analysis of satellite imagery, Human Rights Watch charges that the weapons landed on a “cultivated plateau, within 600 meters of several dozen buildings in four to six village clusters.”

Cluster bombs, which are composed of hundreds of submunitions, pose a long-term threat to civilians because they are designed to explode after spreading over a wide area. Often, the submunitions do not explode, causing the bombs to become de facto landmines.

Over one hundred countries signed the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions banning their use. However, the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen all abstained from signing on.

According to a U.S. Defense Department contract, Saudi Arabia purchased 1,300 CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed cluster munitions from Textron Defense Systems, which is based in Wilmington, Mass. The shipment was meant to be completed by December 2015. Additionally, the UAE received an unknown number of CBU-105 from Textron Defense Systems in June 2010, HRW reports.

“Saudi-led cluster munition airstrikes have been hitting areas near villages, putting local people in danger,” said Steve Goose, arms director at Human Rights Watch. “These weapons should never be used under any circumstances. Saudi Arabia and other coalition members – and the supplier, the US – are flouting the global standard that rejects cluster munitions because of their long-term threat to civilians.”

In a surprise move, Saudi Arabia’s monarch shakes up line of succession

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by Hugh Naylor & Liz Sly, Washington Post

King-Salman

Beirut: Saudi Arabia’s new monarch, King Salman, announced a major shift within the nation’s royal family on Wednesday, replacing his anointed heir with his nephew and naming his own son as the second in line to the throne.

The royal decrees, read on state television before dawn, thrust a younger generation of princes closer to the pinnacle of power at a time of growing challenges for the Western-allied kingdom.

On a regional level, Saudi leaders are facing pressure from several quarters — extremist groups such as the Islamic State; Iran, the country’s increasingly influential rival; and rebels who have seized much of neighboring Yemen.

At home, Saudi Arabia must cope with declining oil prices and the difficulties of ensuring employment for a growing population. About half of Saudi citizens are younger than 30.

The new line of succession signals a potential ideological shift as the kingdom moves away from policies matched lock-step with Washington’s and increasingly establishes its own security and foreign affairs initiatives.

“This change positions [Saudi Arabia] toward leaders who feel that they are facing serious threats from Iran as well as from issues like terrorism,” said Riad Kahwaji, head of the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis. “They feel they have no choice but to be more assertive with their foreign policy.”

In the decrees, Salman promoted his nephew, Mohammed bin Nayef, 55, from deputy crown prince to crown prince. Unless there are further shake-ups, that means that Nayef — currently the interior minister — will become king when the 79-year-old Salman dies.

Salman also named his son, Mohammed bin Salman, as deputy crown prince, putting him second in line to the throne and ensuring that the kingdom’s future rulers will come from Salman’s own branch of the extensive royal family. Mohammed bin Salman, currently the defense minister, is believed to be about 30.

The changes represent the biggest royal shake-up in Saudi Arabia in years and offer yet another indicator that Salman is proving a more energetic and decisive leader than his predecessor, King Abdullah, who died in January at age 90.

A major driver of that assertiveness is concern over Iran, a Shiite powerhouse and the chief rival of predominantly Sunni Saudi Arabia. Riyadh has grown increasingly alarmed by Tehran’s expanding influence in Iraq and its role in Syria’s civil war, in which it is bolstering forces loyal to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

The Saudi government’s decision to launch an air war against Shiite rebels in Yemen in March is widely seen in the region as an example of a turn to a more forceful foreign policy.

Mohammed bin Salman, who was appointed defense minister after Salman took power in January, has assumed a high-profile role in the Yemeni military campaign, which Saudi leaders have portrayed as necessary to counter Iranian influence in the region. Iran denies it provides direct aid to the Yemeni rebels.

The succession moves squeeze out Prince Muqrin, the late King Abdullah’s choice to succeed Salman. Abdullah had named Muqrin, his younger half-brother, as deputy crown prince two years ago, in what was widely seen as an effort to secure the crown for an ally of his own sons.

Nayef is the first of the grandchildren of the late Abdul Aziz ibn Saud, the founder and first king of Saudi Arabia, to move to the doorstep of the country’s top ruling position.

Whether the succession will proceed exactly as Salman plans is in question, however.

King Abdullah set a precedent when he named a deputy heir. Salman, however, has set his own standard by dismissing his predecessor’s choice for the No. 2 person in line for the throne.

There have long been concerns that the transfer to the second generation of the family could trigger destabilizing rivalries between the hundreds of princes potentially eligible to rule the strategically important nation, one of closest Arab allies of the United States.

Salman also replaced 75-year-old Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, who had been in the job for four decades. His successor is the ambassador to the United States, Adel al-Jubeir, who is 53. The king announced other changes that will bring younger blood into the kingdom’s aging administration.

Mohammed Obeid, a political analyst from Lebanon, said Saudi officials have grown increasingly alarmed over a potential U.S.-Iran rapprochement as those two countries negotiate an agreement over Tehran’s nuclear program.

“These new leaders in Saudi are moving in a different direction than the United States, and their policies in the region are an example of this,” Obeid said.

Nonetheless, Nayef has strong ties with officials in Washington. Those links were cultivated in his role over the past decade in overseeing domestic counterterrorism programs, which included crackdowns on members of al-Qaeda as well as rehabilitation programs for militants.

According to Saudi media reports, Nayef has been targeted in at least four assassination attempts by al-Qaeda militants, including one in 2009 that was carried out at his home in the city of Jiddah.

“He’s clearly well known for the counterterror campaign, he’s responsible for Saudi Arabia’s de-radicalization program, and he’s very close to policymakers in Washington,” said Theodore Karasik, a Dubai-based expert on Middle Eastern military issues. “It’s assumed that he’s in close contact with them constantly.”

Still, there have been tensions with the U.S. government over allegations of human rights abuses committed by Saudi authorities against domestic dissidents and over Saudi practices such as public beheadings of convicted criminals.

Daniela Deane in London contributed to this report.

Hunger and death stalk millions in Yemen's war

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(Photo: UNICEF)

(Photo: UNICEF)

by Mohammed Mukhashaf and Noah Browning, Reuters

Aden/Dubai: Hospitals bereft of electricity, homes crushed by air strikes, thousands on the move in search of water, shelter and food: Yemen’s humanitarian plight, long fragile, has become disastrous after a month of all-out war.

In a reversal of a journey long undertaken by those fleeing disaster, war and famine, some Yemenis have resorted to escaping to less unstable zones in the Horn of Africa.

Hospitals in the capital Sanaa, too short of gasoline to run ambulances, blared appeals to private drivers with enough fuel to collect the dead and injured lying in the street after a big air strike on capital Sanaa last week.

The bombing of a missile depot set off a explosion which shredded dozens of homes and sent a mushroom cloud towering over the city.

Crammed with wounded people, some hospitals lacked the electricity or generator fuel to perform surgery, and aid officials say some bodies are now being stored in commercial refrigerators or hastily buried when fetid morgues lack power.

“Ambulances can’t run, there’s very little electricity and not enough fuel for generators. In a water-scarce country like Yemen, that means you can’t even pump water,” said International Committee of the Red Cross spokeswoman Marie Claire Feghali.

“It’s a catastrophe, a humanitarian catastrophe. It was difficult enough before, but now there are just no words for how bad it’s gotten,” she added.

Hundreds of Saudi-led air strikes and dozens of ground battles across Yemen have left millions in the impoverished country hungry and 150,000 fleeing for their lives.

At least 1,080 people have been killed, according to the United Nations, their bodies often crushed under bombed homes or left to fester in war zones. More than 4,000 have been wounded.

An Arab alliance’s month-long campaign against Iran-allied Houthi rebels has yet to loosen their grip over the capital Sanaa or beat back their gains in fronts across hundreds of miles in Yemen’s south.

Behind the struggle for the country’s future, average Yemenis bear the brunt of fighting. The United Nations say 12 million people are “food insecure” or going hungry, a 13 percent increase since the conflict started.

A blockade has choked off imports of food and medicines, while combat has interrupted fuel supplies to the country’s 25 million people.

The shortages have warped daily life and crippled hospitals.

Hisham Abdul Wahab, a resident of the district lashed by last week’s blast, said he tried but failed to stay on.

“Some people began returning to the neighborhood, but the strikes began again and now they’re leaving a second time. The place is devastated: there are no roads, no water and no electricity. Nobody’s left but thieves,” he said.

EXODUS

The tank and machine gun fire became too much for Samad Hussein Shihab and his family last week. He, his young children and elderly mother left their homes in the town of Houta and trekked by foot over sandy wastes to a village an hour away.

“It was the only way to protect my family. Houta is a total disaster area, with almost no civilians remaining. 3,000 families have left and they are suffering badly,” he said.

While he has now reached the relative safety of Aden and was taken in by kin, the city is itself shaken by clashes between Houthi militiamen and armed locals.

Snipers’ bullets and Katyusha rockets have rendered roads into town virtually impassable, preventing aid supplies getting in and desperate citizens from getting out.

Residents say dozens from the city have taken to rickety fishing boats seeking refuge in Somaliland and Djibouti, lands even poorer than Yemen but now more peaceful.

For those who remain, hope, along with basic staples of life, are in short supply.

“Displaced people are camped out in abandoned school grounds and people in the city are sitting through the shelling with no food and no electricity,” said local aid worker Wissam al-Hiswa.

“We are more desperate than a person sitting on a red-hot coal to get food into this city, but over the last week only 22 tons have gotten in, and we have nothing to provide,” he added.

Saudi Arabia announced last week that it would scale back its strikes and step up aid efforts, in a pause that was demanded by rights and aid groups.

The kingdom pledged $274 million to fully cover a U.N. humanitarian aid appeal for Yemen this month and has allowed aid agencies to ship hundreds of tons of medicine.

But air strikes hit a displaced persons camp, killing at least 40, and a humanitarian warehouse for aid agency Oxfam.

For many tens of thousands of people fleeing remote conflict zones, like Bakeel Saleh from the city of Dalea tucked among mountains in Yemen’s south, peace and relief look distant.

“There are no supplies or aid organizations around to help the thousands who fled the city into surrounding villages,” Saleh said.

“The main hospital and most people’s homes have been hit by the shelling. Our house was among them – it’s destroyed.” he added.

(Additional reporting by Mohammed Ghobari; Writing By Noah Browning, Editing By William Maclean and Philippa Fletcher)

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