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Yemenis 'trapped in hell' as war escalates

With help from the United States and the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia’s blockade and airstrikes on Yemen have created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
People gather at the site of an air strike in Sanaa, Yemen November 11, 2017. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah - RC167B6883D0

“We are trapped in hell!” Those are the words of a Yemeni friend this week in the midst of the Saudi aerial bombardment of Sanaa. The war is escalating with Houthi missile attacks and the tightening of the blockade. How long will the international community — especially America and the United Kingdom — let the world’s worst humanitarian crisis continue when they have the power to end it?

Yemen is the worst humanitarian catastrophe in the world. Thirty months of war by the richest Arabs against the poorest Arabs has led to mass malnutrition, famine and disease. Cholera is rampant. A generation of Yemeni children will be malformed. The BBC has documented the tragedy in a series of devastating reports. The United Nations says 7 million people are on the brink of starvation.

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