UN Declares Highest Humanitarian Emergency Level in Yemen

UN Declares Highest Humanitarian Emergency Level in Yemen

by Stephen Lendman

Yemen is Obama's war - premeditated genocidal aggression against 26 million Yemenis using Saudi-led terror bombing and suffocating blockade to his dirty work.

The entire population is at risk. Official death and injury reports way understate reality. Casualties mount daily. Millions don't have enough food to eat. They can't get medical treatment for injuries and illnesses.

Yemen is being systematically destroyed - raped the way America treats one country after another in lunatic pursuit of unchallenged global dominance.

A holocaust is unfolding in plain sight, largely ignored by Western media. Yemen is 90% dependent on food imports. At the same time, Saudi terror bombing crippled its agriculture sector. Famine threatens the country. Millions of lives are at risk.

A hollow July 2 State Department statement "call(ed) for an immediate humanitarian pause" to a conflict Obama initiated and wants continued until Yemen is entirely destroy and its population massacred or murdered from deprivation.

Claiming America is "work(ing) actively with humanitarian organizations to help facilitate the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid" is polar opposite truth. Obama wants Yemenis starved to death or killed by Saudi-led terror bombing attacks.

They'd stop today along with blockade conditions with one phone call from Washington to Riyadh not forthcoming. Obama wants conflict continued, not ended.

One Saudi terror bombing incident targeting a residential area killed 27 members of Walid Al-Ibbi's family, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported. On May 5, he lost his wife, four daughters and 21 others slaughtered in cold blood on the night "someone came to ask for my daughter's hand in marriage," he said.

Happiness became nightmare. "I didn't even have time to be happy for my daughter before the strike happened," he said.

HRW's new report on Yemen is titled "Targeting Saada: Unlawful Coalition Airstrikes on Saada City in Yemen."

It discusses Saudi-led terror bombing against civilian targets, including residential communities, schools and markets - despite no evidence of military activities.

A Saudi spokesman said the entire city of Saada is considered a military target - civilians treated no differently than combatants.

US-orchestrated, Saudi-led terror bombing is naked aggression against a nation threatening no others. Murdering civilians compounds the highest of high crimes against peace.

Obama bears full responsibility. Riyadh and other regional partners share it. So do Western leaders for failing to condemn US-ordered naked aggression and not acting to stop it.

Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Seyyed Khamenei denounced Western media silence on the atrocities being committed against Yemenis and throughout the region, saying:

"The world’s media that are dominated by the US, Britain, and the Zionists sometimes launch a propaganda campaign over an animal’s life while they keep outrageously quiet towards these crimes…such as the bombardment of Yemen these days as well as the past years' aggression on Gaza and Lebanon."

"What should a dignified person do in the face of such bias and evil," he asked? On July 1, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) declared a Level 3 (L3) emergency crisis in Yemen - its highest designation beyond dire.

It said over 80% of Yemenis (21.1 million people) urgently need humanitarian aid to survive. Over half the population is food insecure. They don't have enough to eat.

Malnutrition threatens millions - especially young children. Over 20 million have no access to clean water and sanitation. "This severely increases the risk of outbreaks of water-borne diseases including cholera," said OCHA.

Dengue fever and malaria outbreaks were reported. "The health system is facing imminent collapse with the closure of at least 160 facilities due to insecurity and lack of fuel or other critical supplies," OCHA explained.

Saudi terror bombing destroyed or heavily damaged dozens of hospitals and clinics - deliberately targeted to prevent sick and wounded Yemenis from accessing treatment.

US/Saudi blockade prevents enough vital supplies getting in. What's arriving is a small fraction of what's needed. OCHA calls access to "affected populations…a crippling challenge…to help alleviate the suffering of millions of families."

They struggle daily to survive. Basic services largely collapsed throughout much of the country. Medicines for cancer, diabetes, hypertension and other chronic diseases largely ran out. Saudi terror bombing makes it impossible to provide enough help for desperately needy people.

Destroyed infrastructure will take years or decades to restore once hostilities end. Throughout most of the country, supplies of food, fuel and medicines are dangerously low or not available.

Yemen is 100% dependent on fuel for electricity, pumping water from underground wells, running hospital generators, transporting available goods and other vital activities.

Many parts of the country have less than one hour a day of electricity. Some have none at all. "Yemen's health system is on the brink of collapse," said OCHA.

Hundreds of thousands of displaced Yemenis have limited or no access to emergency shelters and basic household supplies.

Yemen is ground zero for a deepening humanitarian crisis of epic proportions, worsening daily with no relief in sight. Women and children have greater difficulty accessing aid than men. Saudi terror bombing, displacement and inadequate or no aid compromises their ability to survive.

It bears repeating. Western leaders able to intervene responsibly are doing nothing to stop a deepening holocaust affecting millions of Yemenis. They continue suffering largely out of sight and mind.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen [at] sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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