Alwaght- The United Nations has called on the Saudi-led military coalition against Yemen to reopen an aid lifeline to bring imported food and medicine into the war-torn Arab country.
Jens Laerke of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in the Swiss city of Geneva on Tuesday that humanitarian operations were currently "blocked" because air and sea ports in Yemen were closed.
"We call for all air and sea ports to remain open to ensure food, fuel and medicines can enter the country," Laerke said.
The official said that the Saudi-led coalition had told the UN to "inform all commercial vessels at Hudaydah and Saleef ports to leave."
According to the UN official, the price of fuel jumped 60 percent "overnight" in Yemen and the price of cooking gas doubled. "This is an access problem of colossal dimensions right now."
Meanwhile, Robert Mardini, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) regional director for the Near and Middle East, said in a statement that food supplies were vital for the survival of Yemeni people.
"Food, medicine and other essential supplies are critical for the survival of 27 million Yemenis already weakened by a conflict now in its third year," the statement read.
Saudi Arabia and a coalition of its allies have been incessantly pounding Yemen since March 2015 in an attempt to crush the popular Ansarullah movement and reinstate former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who is a staunch ally of the Riyadh regime.
More than 13,000 people have been killed since the onset of the campaign.
On Sunday, the Saudi regime announced that it was shutting down Yemen’s air, sea, and land border, after Yemeni fighters targeted an international airport near the Saudi capital.
