28 December 2021•Update: 28 December 2021
SANAA, Yemen
Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Tuesday announced the temporary resumption of UN aid flights to Sanaa airport after a week-long hiatus following Saudi-led airstrikes.
In a statement, the rebel-run Civil Aviation Authority said flights were resumed to the airport as of Monday “after communications and navigation devices were temporarily fixed.”
“The UN and international organization in Yemen were notified that it is not guaranteed that these devices will continue operating in the long run,” it added.
Last week, Houthi rebels suspended UN aid flights to the airport after Saudi-led airstrikes. The coalition, which has been fighting the Iran-aligned rebels for years, said it struck “legitimate military targets” at the airport.
Air navigation at Sanaa airport was halted by the Saudi-led coalition since 2016 except for humanitarian flights of the UN and other international organizations.
Yemen has been engulfed by violence and instability since 2014, when Houthi rebels captured much of the country, including the capital Sanaa.
A Saudi-led coalition aimed at reinstating the Yemeni government has worsened the situation, causing one of the world’s worst man-made humanitarian crises, with nearly 80% or about 30 million people needing humanitarian assistance and protection and more than 13 million in danger of starvation, according to UN estimates.
A recent UN report projected that by year’s-end, the death toll from the seven-year Yemeni conflict will reach 377,000.
*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara
