Saudi-led air strikes on Yemen’s Taiz kill 43

High-ranking officials in Yemen’s port city of Aden say al-Qaida militants have taken control of key areas of the city.

Yemeni security officials said the violence in Taiz started with Houthi rebels shelling civilians.

The proposal was given the United Nations envoy for Yemen on Thursday.

“Right now, the conflict-driven convergence between the lack of staple food, access to clean water, and a diminished fuel supply create the dawn of a ideal storm for the most vulnerable Yemeni people“, said Ertharin Cousin, WFP Executive Director.

The UN has condemned Saudi coalition airstrikes on the Port of Hodeidah in Northern Yemen, which have resulted in the port’s closure while the country is threatened by starvation.

“This means that there is no real popular incubator for the Houthis in any province in Yemen”, he added. At least 28 civilians, including 13 children were killed in these attacks.

Yemen’s conflict pits the Iran-allied Houthis and troops loyal to the former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, against an array of forces including southern separatists, local and tribal militias, Sunni Islamic militants as well as troops loyal to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. WFP said a study it carried out showed food security was at its most precarious for Yemen’s 1.3 million internally displaced people.

The humanitarian situation has steadily deteriorated since the fighting picked up in March, when Saudi Arabia launched a U.S.-backed coalition air campaign against Houthi forces and their allies, which control large swaths of the country, including the capital.

According to medical sources and the MSF, the Saudi-led coalition retaliated by targeting Houthi positions and unintentionally ended up hitting residential areas in Taiz.

At least 17 children and 20 women were among those killed in airstrikes Friday.

Meanwhile, the United Nations children’s agency said that over the past six months it had provided psychological support to help over 150,000 children cope with the horrors of the conflict.

Only seven of Taiz’s 21 hospitals are now open but they are “totally overwhelmed” and have run out of essential medication, MSF said. The shelling also destroyed a main power plant in the city.

The report Yemen: Childhood Under Threat said the number of children recruited or used in the conflict had more than doubled to 377 so far in 2015 from 156 in 2014.

Moreover, Yemen has been steadily turning into a proxy war, with Saudi Arabia taking the government’s side and accusing Shiite Iran of siding with the Houthis.

Since pro-government forces recaptured the city from Houthi rebels last month, several planes carrying humanitarian aid have landed at Aden’s repaired worldwide airport, which had been the scene of heavy clashes.