Fighting and air strikes have destroyed airports and blocked supplies of food

Yemen

The fighting in Yemen threatens to cause widespread hunger and thirst and displace huge numbers of people, creating another humanitarian disaster in a region already reeling from the crisis in Syria, according to analysts and aid workers.

The impoverished Arabian Peninsula nation of 25 million was struggling with alarming malnutrition levels even before an offensive by Shiite Houthi rebels prompted a military intervention last month by a coalition led by Saudi Arabia.

Now, the coalition’s air strikes, as well as the fighting at Yemen’s airports and seaports, are impeding access to food and other supplies.

According to the United Nations and humanitarian aid agencies, major urban centres, including the southern city of Aden, which has a population of about one million, may run out of drinking water.

The fighting has displaced thousands of Yemenis, and a continuation of the unrest could produce waves of refugees reminiscent of the flight of Syrians from cities and towns engulfed in that country’s civil war, analysts and aid workers say. About four million people have poured out of Syria and six million more are internally displaced because of the fighting.

Looking to exploit Yemen’s chaos are extremist groups such as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and Isis (Islamic State), according to Fawaz A. Gerges, professor of Middle Eastern politics at the London School of Economics.

“If Yemen descends into all-out war, which is a likely scenario, we could witness a greater humanitarian crisis than that of Syria, in terms of refugees and mass starvation,” he said. “You could end up with al-Qaeda being the main winner after this conflict.”

The Houthi rebels have seized vast tracts of Yemeni territory and in February toppled the US-backed Government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. The Saudi-led coalition, which has conducted air attacks against the Houthis and threatened