Turkish charity sends water to thousands in Yemen

ANKARA

A Turkish aid group delivered 1,000 tankers of water to families in war-torn Yemen, the charity said on Tuesday.

The Istanbul-based Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) said in a statement that Yemenis in the region have difficulty in finding clean water due to drought and the civil war.

The IHH provided four million liters of water to support the drinking water need of families in southwestern Taiz and eastern Maarib provinces for a month, it stated.

The group also underlined that the clean water in the war-torn zone, where epidemics are widespread, is vital for the prevention of various epidemics.

The IHH has been carrying out its activities in Yemen since the first day of the crisis and delivered emergency aid to over 340,000 people in 2018.

Impoverished Yemen has remained wracked by violence since 2014, when Shia Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including the capital Sanaa.

The conflict escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-Arab allies launched a devastating air campaign in Yemen aimed at rolling back Houthi gains.

The ongoing violence has destroyed much of Yemen’s infrastructure, including water and sanitation systems, prompting the UN to describe the situation as one of “the worst humanitarian disasters of modern times”.