Yemen reveals the killing of a Huthi military commander

The Yemeni Ministry of Defence has said an Al Houthi field military commander was killed in clashes with government forces in the northern province of Saada as other government forces seized control of pockets of lands in Jawf province.

The minister’s official news site, 26sepnews.net said Hamza Al Medani, Al Houthi military commander responsible for Alab front in Saada, and a number of fighters were killed when they tried to sneak up on government and Saudi-led coalition forces protecting the Alab border crossing with Saudi Arabia.

A fierce battle erupted when Al Houthis began attacking government forces. The militants failed to take control of the area and were forced into retreating to their positions on Alab mountain.

On Al Bouqa front, east of Saada province, government forces, supported by fighter jets from the Saudi-led coalition, stormed several caves on Al Bouqa mountains and seized arms and ammunition. The assault began on Tuesday when government forces broke through Al Houthi lines on the mountain and managed to enter the caves where Al Houthi fighters hide arms.

Yemen government forces late last year made a major military breakthrough inside Al Houthi power base, Saada province, when hundreds of troops regained control of two border crossings with Saudi Arabia and thrust deeper into the province. The government forces slowed their advances when they reached rugged and heavily mined mountains.

On humanitarian side, The scale of the food crisis in conflict-ridden Yemen is staggering with 17 million people - two thirds of the population - severely food insecure and seven million of these on the verge of famine, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said today in a briefing to the UN Security Council.

In a video link from Geneva, he noted how conflict and violence in Yemen - "the largest humanitarian crisis today" - have disrupted agricultural livelihoods and are intensifying in some of the most food insecure and famine-risk areas.

The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification conducted in March this year, registered a 20 percent increase in the number of people estimated to be severely food insecure (IPC Phase 3 and above). Seven million are in IPC Phase 4 meaning they are a step away from being classified to be in Famine (IPC Phase 5).

In Yemen "crop production last year already fell by 40 percent compared with the pre-conflict average. This year, because of poor rains the harvest will be even lower," he said.

The virtual collapse of public health and veterinary services has further heightened the risk of disease and death. In addition, there are risks in the use of poor quality water of irrigation and food preparation.

Livestock disease surveillance and vaccination programmes have come to a halt pushing the risk of disease outbreaks higher. The risk of emerging and endemic zoonoses (animal diseases) exists across the country.

On the political side, the United Nations envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, announced that the situation in the country is getting worse as is the humanitarian crisis in a speech after a UN Security Council session on Yemen.

Ould Cheikh said 20 million people were affected by a multifaceted crisis in Yemen. He pointed out that the haphazard shelling of Taiz raises the number of victims. The UN envoy asked for a resumption of flights to Sanaa, especially for patients.

He also pointed out that more than 1,700 people have died due to cholera, while also praising Saudi aid and support to contain the epidemic. He also stressed that all parties to the conflict must respect international law.