Hundreds of thousands of people died indirectly by the war and economic embargo imposed on Yemen by the US-Saudi-led coalition
ByNews Desk- March 22 2023
A Yemeni child prays by the graves of students who were killed by a Saudi-led coalition airstrike. 4 September, 2018.
(Photo credit: AFP/Getty)
The Yemeni Ansarallah resistance movement stated that over 49,000 civilians have been killed and injured through direct violence since the launch of the Saudi-led coalition operations in 2015 while also accusing the coalition of using prohibited weapons, Al-Masirah TV reported on 22 March.
The Ministry of Human Rights in the Ansarallah-led National Salvation government stated during a press conference in Sanaa that “The total number of dead and wounded over eight years has exceeded 49,000, including more than 8,700 children and more than 5,400 women.”
“1,483,00 civilians have died indirectly as a result of outbreaks of chronic illnesses, poisons from chemicals of prohibited weapons, malnutrition, and other causes,” the ministry said.
Additionally, the military operations of the Saudi-led coalition and its blockade of areas under Ansarallah’s control for the past 8 years have caused the poverty rate to reach 95 percent and the unemployment rate to reach more than 65 percent.
The Ministry of Human Rights in the National Salvation government also stated that “the unjust siege has exacerbated suffering and caused acute food insecurity for more than 16 million people.”
A UN-brokered ceasefire agreed to last April helped to greatly reduce the fighting and violence between Ansarallah forces and the Saudi-led coalition.
Hopes for an end to the war were also raised after Iran, and Saudi Arabia agreed to restore diplomatic relations recently. Iran is viewed by Saudi Arabia as providing arms to the Ansarallah movement.
In another positive sign, Ansarallah and Yemen’s Saudi-backed government agreed to exchange hundreds of prisoners after talks in Switzerland on 21 March.
However, hostilities resumed today, on 22 March, when Ansarallah forces attacked an area in the oil-producing Marib province, killing 10 soldiers in the Saudi-backed Yemeni army, AFP reported.
“The Houthis [Ansarallah] launched an attack on hills overlooking Harib district, south of Marib, and made progress on that front, causing the displacement of dozens of families,” a military source told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“At least 10 soldiers were killed, in addition to an unknown number of attackers,” the source added.
The Ansarallah movement seized control of Yemen’s capital Sanaa in 2014. Saudi Arabia launched a military intervention and bombing campaign the following year with US and UK support, leaving hundreds of thousands dead and causing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.