© UN OCHA / Philippe Kropf
The aftermath of a US-backed Saudi airstrike in Sa'ada Yemen in August 2015. An estimated 377,000 Yemenis have died in the US-Saudi war on their country, and roughly 70% of deaths were children under age 5, according to a comprehensive United Nations report.
The death toll of the US-UK-Saudi-Emirati war on Yemen is estimated to be at least 377,000 individuals, as of the end of 2021.
More than two-thirds of these Yemenis killed were likely children.
These statistics come from the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which
reported in November that the number of deaths by direct and indirect causes in Yemen was projected to surpass 377,000 by the end of 2021.
March 2022 will mark the seventh anniversary of this war, which has caused the largest humanitarian crisis on Earth.
Saudi Arabia initiated the war in March 2015 by launching airstrikes on its southern neighbor, with support and weapons from the United States, United Kingdom, and United Arab Emirates.
Approximately 60% (226,000) of these estimated Yemeni deaths were because of indirect causes, according to the UNDP, such as preventable diseases or a lack of access to food, water, and healthcare.
Roughly
40% (151,000) of these Yemenis suffered violent deaths, whether from US-backed Saudi airstrikes or front-line fighting.
The UNDP said 70% (264,000) of the estimated Yemeni deaths were children under age 5.
15.6 million Yemenis live in extreme poverty, and 8.6 million suffer from under-nutrition, according to the report.
The UNDP added that Yemen's economy has suffered
an estimated loss of US $126 billion in potential gross domestic product (GDP) since 2015.
"If war in Yemen continues through 2030, we estimate that 1.3 million people will die as a result," the report added ominously.
The war on Yemen gets very little media coverage, and is rarely mentioned by political leaders in the United States.
President Joe Biden claimed during his presidential campaign that he would end the war. In February 2021, the president announced that the United States would end support for "offensive" Saudi operations in Yemen - although
by their very nature, all Saudi operations in Yemen are offensive, because the wealthy monarchy initiated the war by bombing its neighbor, the poorest country in West Asia.
Yet
the Biden administration has continued selling weapons to Saudi Arabia, and the war on Yemen has only escalated since the Democratic president entered office.
Violence in Yemen is at the highest levels since 2018, with a civilian killed or wounded every hour on average.
Comment: The Washington Post reports that UN figures show that up to 13 million Yemenis face the risk of starvation due to various war crimes the West is facilitating, from the bombing of facilities to embargoes:
The head of the U.N. food agency has warned that 13 million Yemenis are headed for starvation due to a protracted civil conflict and a lack of funding for humanitarian aid.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, David Beasley said that Yemen was "in a very bad situation" with more than 40 percent of the population already relying on food supplies from the World Food Program.
"We're feeding 13 million people out of a nation of 30 million people, and we are running out of money," Beasley said, speaking from the capital, Sanaa.
Since the pandemic hit, more people have been facing the threat of starvation globally, which put tremendous pressures on the WFP, Beasley said. Now, 285 million people around the world face the threat of starvation, which makes it more difficult to attend to Yemen's needs, he added.
© AP Photo/Hani Mohammed
FILE - In this Nov. 23, 2019 file photo, a malnourished newborn baby lies in an incubator at the Al-Sabeen Hospital in Sanaa, Yemen. David Beasley, the head of the U.N. food agency, warned that 13 million Yemenis are headed for starvation due to a protracted civil conflict and a lack of funding for humanitarian aid. In an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2022, Beasley said that Yemen had more than 40 percent of the population already relying on food supplies from the World Food Program.
Beasley said his agency was forced to cut rations in half for eight million Yemenis due to the shortage of funds.
"We may be cutting those down to zero. What do you think will happen? people will die. It will be catastrophic," he said.
According to the UN food agency, around 811 million people do not have enough food across the globe, and and estimated 45 million people in 43 countries are at risk of famine.
Beasley said the WFP needs an extra 9 billion dollars to meet the rising demand for food aid around the world.
"The $430 trillion worth of wealth in the world today, there should not be a single child dying anywhere on earth," he contended.
Yemen has been fighting a civil war since 2014, when Iran-backed Houthi rebels took control of the capital of Sanaa and much of the northern part of the country, forcing the government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to flee to the south, then to Saudi Arabia.
A Saudi-led coalition entered the war in March 2015, backed by the United States, to try to restore Hadi and his internationally recognized government to power. Despite a relentless air campaign and ground fighting, the war has deteriorated largely into a stalemate and caused a humanitarian crisis. The U.S. has since suspended its direct involvement in the conflict.
"In Yemen, these children and these families have paid the price long enough for the war they're in. It is time for the war to end," said Beasley. "Right now what I see is children and families begging for food."
The war on Yemen has been ongoing for at least two decades; between 2002 and 2015 the US launched 98 officially recognised drone attacks on teh country, and it's likely that's just the tip of the ice berg of US attacks on the country.
Pepe Escobar provides insight into why the West and its lackey's in the region are so determined to force the Yemen into submission:
String of pearls: Yemen could be the Arab hub of the Maritime Silk Road
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- Seeing pictures and reading about kids being killed makes me want to punch every single federal official.