ADEN, Yemen

About 3 million children will not be able to attend school this year in Yemen, the International Committee of the Red Cross delegation to Yemen said Friday.

"With the beginning of the school year in Yemen, let’s not forget that the conflict has damaged and destroyed hundreds of schools and rendered about 3 million children unable to enroll this year," Katharina Ritz, the head of the committee, said on Twitter. "Yemeni children, like all children, need to go back to school.”

The new academic year in Yemen started about a week ago.

The UN Children's Fund announced in early August that 8.1 million children in Yemen needed urgent education assistance.

Yemen has been engulfed by violence and instability since 2014, when Iranian-aligned Houthi rebels captured much of the country, including the capital, Sanaa.

A Saudi-led coalition aimed at reinstating the government has worsened the situation, causing one of the world’s worst man-made humanitarian crises, with 233,000 people killed, nearly 80% or about 30 million needing humanitarian assistance and protection, and more than 13 million in danger of starvation, according to UN estimates.

*Writing by Beyza Binnur Donmez