Aid agencies have begun suspending vital operations in Yemen after the recent US and UK strikes on Houthi targets, amid warnings that further military intervention risks deepening one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
A coalition of 23 aid organisations operating within the Gulf state issued a joint statement on Tuesday, warning that military escalation will further compromise their ability to deliver critical services while worsening living conditions for millions of people in Yemen.
Tuesday’s statement, released shortly after reports that another cargo ship had been struck by a missile off the coast of Yemen, read: “Following the US/UK strikes, some humanitarian organisations have been forced to suspend operations over safety and security concerns, while others assess their ability to operate.”
Their intervention came days after airstrikes on targets inside Yemen by the US and UK after attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi militia group on ships passing through the Red Sea. The Houthis said those attacks were an effort to put pressure on Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza and that an Israeli ceasefire would immediately lead to the free flow of ships.
The strikes have prompted widespread alarm across an impoverished country already reeling from what the UN describes as one of the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophes. About 21 million Yemenis – two-thirds of the population – rely on aid to survive.
Save the Children, one of the largest aid groups in Yemen with 700 staff, said it was among those currently assessing its operations. Shannon Orcutt, the organisation’s Yemen spokesperson, told the Guardian: “Several of our major partners have already paused [services] because they’re worried about staff safety and security.”
The statement, which Save the Children signed alongside the Norwegian Refugee Council, Saferworld and Relief International among others, urged the UK and US, along with the Houthis, to prioritise diplomacy “over military options”.
It added: “Civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected, and safe, and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance must be guaranteed. Within the wider regional context, we also reiterate the call for an immediate and sustained ceasefire in Gaza to save lives and avert further instability across the region.”
Provisional humanitarian assessments following the US and UK strikes suggest that millions are facing widespread displacement, food insecurity and limited access to basic services. The statement added that impact of the security threat in the Red Sea is “already being felt by humanitarian actors as disruption to trade is pushing up prices and causing delays in shipments of lifesaving goods”.
Speaking from Yemen, Jared Rowell of the International Rescue Committee warned that if delays to urgent medical supplies continued for another one to two months then many Yemenis would be left without “lifesaving aid.”
The statement added: “Further escalation could result in more organisations being forced to halt their operations in areas where there are ongoing hostilities,” the statement read. “Impacts to vital infrastructure, including strategic ports, would have major implications for the entry of essential goods into a country heavily dependent on imports.
“Scarcity and increased costs of basic commodities, such as food and fuel, will only exacerbate the already dire economic crisis, increase reliance on aid and drive protection risks.”
The 23 aid agencies, which also include the Danish Refugee Council, MedGlobal and Adra Yemen, appear to be calling for the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, and the US president, Joe Biden, to show restraint. “Political leaders must consider the dire humanitarian implications of military escalation, and refrain from actions that could result in renewed large-scale armed conflict in Yemen,” it read.
Separately, Baraa Shaiban, a political analyst on Yemen and associate fellow at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, warned that the attacks on Houthi military infrastructure by the US and UK had effectively “re-traumatised” millions of Yemenis.
Shaiban said the attacks had reawakened the alarm many felt eight years ago when Saudi Arabia and eight other mostly Sunni Arab states – backed by the US, UK and France – began airstrikes against the Houthis.
“It has reminded them how it all started in 2015, the fear of what these strikes might lead to. The concern for them is: ‘Does this mean another conflict?’”
A UK parliamentary briefing released days before the Hamas attack in early October that prompted Israel’s offensive in Gaza, ultimately leading to last week’s attacks on Houthi targets, provides further insight into the stark humanitarian crisis inside Yemen. It concluded that food insecurity was “high” with around 60% of those in humanitarian need – 12.9 million – being children.
