Yemen conflict widens, causing growing concerns

[joeblow]

Yemen conflict widens, causing growing concerns

http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=1 ... =351020206



Yemeni civilians

Humanitarian agencies voice deep concern over a worsening crisis in Saudi Arabia's southwest and in northern Yemen where Riyadh has been bombing villages.

The United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF expressed worries at the escalation of the conflict in northern Yemen, where the UN says 175,000 people have been displaced.

The UNICEF also said some 240 villages on the Saudi Arabian side of the border have been evacuated and the civilian residents have been forced to settle in refugee camps.

"Fighting has now spilled into Saudi Arabia, reportedly causing 240 villages to be evacuated and more than 50 schools to be closed," Sigrid Kaag, UNICEF's regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement.

The UNICEF says deaths have been recorded among the displaced children inside the camps.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has also warned against the declining humanitarian situation for civilians living along the Saudi border.

The Saudi government says it has forced the evacuation to create a so-called Buffer Zone along its border with Yemen, saying the area is needed to launch attacks against the Yemeni Houthi fighters.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees' (UNHCR) says the conflict in northern Yemen has rendered 175,000 people homeless since 2004, when the government started attacking the Shia fighters accusing them of seeking to restore the Shia Zaidi imamate system, which was overthrown in a 1962 coup.

The Houthis argue, however, that they are defending their people's rights against the central government's marginalization policies adopted under the influence of Saudi-backed Wahhabi extremists.

The Saudi air force has further complicated the conflict during the past fortnight by a deadly offensive against Houthis, accusing the Shia resistance fighters of killing two Saudi soldiers on the border.

While Riyadh claims that its offensive targeted Houthi positions on 'Saudi territory', the fighters say Yemeni villages were being bombarded.

Shias, who form the clear majority in the north, make up approximately half of Yemen's overall population.

Yemen's northern Sa'adah province borders the southwestern Saudi province of Asir where Saudi Ismaili Shias live.

MGH/DT