Humanitarian flights have been refused access to Yemen, where millions of people face starvation. Saudi Arabia sealed all entry points to Yemen after Houthi rebels launched a missile attack on Riyadh's airport.
Saudi military vehicles patrol Saudi-Yemeni broder (Achive photo: 2015)Image: Getty Images/AFP/F. Nureldine
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The United Nations on Tuesday demanded that Saudi Arabia drop its newly tightened blockade on Yemen's borders.
Saudi Arabia shut down Yemen's airports, land borders and sea ports on Monday following an attempted ballistic missile attack on an international airport servicing Saudi capital Riyadh. Saudi Arabia said the complete shutdown was a temporary measure but the blockade was slammed by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
"The situation is catastrophic in Yemen, it is the worst food crisis we are looking at today, seven million people are on the brink of famine, millions of people being kept alive by our humanitarian operations," a spokesman for the office, Jens Laerke, told reporters in Geneva.
"If these channels, these lifelines, are not kept open it is catastrophic for people who are already in what we have already called the world's worst humanitarian crisis," Laerke said.
The UN rights office said it would study whether the blockade constituted an unlawful collective punishment, and said it hoped the measures were short term.
The World Health Organization said the Saudi blockade would stymie its efforts to fight cholera in Yemen, where more than 900,000 people are infected and more than 2,100 people have died.
Yemen: An ever-worsening crisis
Yemen has struggled to cope with crises prompted by its atrocious civil war, including catastrophic hunger and devastating cholera outbreaks. DW examines the conflict and how it affects the country's civilian population.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
War: The 'root cause' of Yemen's disasters
The UN has identified conflict as the "root cause" of Yemen's crises. Tens of thousands of people have been killed since the war erupted in 2014, when Shiite Houthi rebels launched a campaign to capture the capital, Sanaa. In March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition launched a deadly campaign against the rebels, one that has been widely criticized by human rights groups for its high civilian death toll.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
Fighting keeps food from the famished
The conflict has prevented humanitarian aid from reaching large parts of the civilian population, resulting in more than two-thirds of the country's 28 million people being classified as "food insecure." Nearly 3 million children and pregnant or nursing women are acutely malnourished, according to the UN World Food Program.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
Displacement: Converging crises
More than 3 million people have been displaced by conflict, including marginalized communities such as the "Muhammasheen," a minority tribe that originally migrated from Africa. Despite the civil war, many flee conflict in Somalia and head to Yemen, marking the convergence of two major migration crises in the Middle East nation. Yemen hosts around 250,000 Somali refugees, according to UNHCR.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
Cholera: A deadly epidemic
The number of suspected cholera cases has exceeded more than 2 million and least 3,700 people have died from the waterborne bacterial infection in Yemen since October 2019, said the WHO. Although cholera can be easily treated, it can kill within hours when untreated.
Image: Reuters/K. Abdullah
Unsuspecting victims of the'war on terror'
In Yemen, violence goes beyond civil conflict: It is considered a strategic front in the war on terrorism. The country serves as the operational base for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, dubbed the "most dangerous" terrorist group before the rise of the "Islamic State." The US routinely uses drones to target al-Qaida leadership. However, civilians have often been killed in the operations.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Y. Arhab
Children's fate: Future marred by tragedy
In a country paralyzed by conflict, children are one of the most at-risk groups in Yemen. More than 12 million children require humanitarian aid, according to the UN humanitarian coordination agency. The country's education system is "on the brink of collapse," while children are dying of "preventable causes like malnutrition, diarrhea and respiratory tract infections," according to the agency.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
Peace: An elusive future
Despite several attempts at UN-backed peace talks, the conflict continues to rage on. Saudi Arabia has vowed to continue supporting the internationally recognized government of Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. On the other hand, Houthi rebels have demanded the formation of a unity government in order to move forward on a political solution. A peace deal, however, remains elusive.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
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The Saudi-led coalition said it sealed Yemen's borders to plug gaps that enable "smuggling of missiles and military equipment to the Houthi militias," which launched the ballistic missile attack on Riyadh's airport.
Human Rights Watch said the missile launch was "most likely a war crime" but urged Saudi Arabia against restricting aid access to Yemen.
"This unlawful attack is no justification for Saudi Arabia to exacerbate Yemen's humanitarian catastrophe by further restricting aid and access to the country," it said.
The UN said all of its humanitarian flights to Yemen had been grounded after they were refused clearance. Doctors Without Borders said its flight from Djibouti to the Yemeni capital Sanaa had also been canceled for the same reason.
#ISpeakforButhaina: Picture of Yemeni girl goes viral
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Saudis lash out at Iran
Saudi Arabia on Tuesday accused Iran of "direct military aggression" by allegedly giving the missiles to Yemen's Houthi rebels.
"The involvement of Iran in supplying missiles to the Houthis is a direct military aggression by the Iranian regime," the Saudi Press Agency quoted Saudi Arabia's powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as saying during a telephone conversation with British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
This "could be considered an act of war," he said.
Iran denied involvement in the attack on Riyadh's airport, saying Salman was needlessly stoking regional tensions.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said: "The Saudis are acting like hooligans in the region, are making the region unsafe and then end up trying to blame Iran for their dangerous policy."
Aiports considered 'legitimate targets'
Late Monday evening a Houthi-linked army spokesman in the Yemeni capital threatened escalation against Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, saying the rebels consider the two countries' airports "legitimate targets."
Colonel Aziz Rashed told reporters that his military experts could develop missiles with ranges exceeding 1,500 kilometers (930 miles).
More than 8,650 people have been killed in Yemen since Saudi Arabia launched a military intervention in support of Yemen's internationally-recognized government in 2015.
Dozens of princes and former ministers have been arrested in Saudi Arabia in a wide-ranging crackdown on corruption. Could Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman be cementing his control by undermining potential rivals?
Image: Reuters/M. al-Sayaghi
Formation of an anti-corruption committee
Dozens of princes, former ministers and prominent businessmen have been detained across Saudi Arabia in an unprecedented anti-corruption campaign. The arrests happened after King Salman ordered the creation of an anti-corruption committee, headed by his son, Crown Prince Mohammed.
Image: picture-alliance/abaca/B. Press
Reforming the country or silencing potential rivals?
The newly formed committee possesses wide ranging powers, including the ability to issue arrest warrants, freeze assets and impose travel bans. Saudi Arabia's crown prince has vowed to fight corruption in the world's top oil exporter. Thirty-two-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman al-Saud is widely regarded as the driving force behind opening up the ultra-conservative country.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Images/N. Asfouri
One of Middle East’s richest in hot waters
One of the arrested, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, is a billionaire and business tycoon who has extensive investments in Western companies such as Twitter, Apple, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, Citigroup, the Four Seasons hotel chains and the ride sharing service Lyft. One of the Middle East's richest persons, Prince Alwaleed, is also known for being one of the most outspoken Saudi royals.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/F. Nureldine
'Homeland will not exist unless corruption is uprooted'
The detainees include ex-finance minister Ibrahim al-Assaf and former head of the royal court Khaled al-Tuwaijri. Three former state officials were also sacked earlier before being detained. "The homeland will not exist unless corruption is uprooted and the corrupt are held accountable," said a royal degree connected to the arrests.
Image: Getty Images
Too much happening too quickly
In other developments, the Saudi monarch removed the prominent prince in charge of the National Guard. The development followed the resignation of a close ally, Lebanon's prime minister Saad Hariri. These political developments further shake up Saudi Arabia and the greater Middle East as regional conflicts rage on the kingdom's borders.
