Airstrike on Yemeni port risks access to vital aid

(Vatican Radio) The damage inflicted on Yemen's Red Sea port of Hodeida is still being assessed after it was bombed on Tuesday by warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition.

Hodeida, controlled by Iranian-allied Houthi forces, has become a focal point of efforts to resupply the impoverished Arab state, battered by five months of war that has killed over 4,300 people.

The charity Save the Children says the latest airstrikes “will be felt most strongly by innocent children with families.”

It also says that there are  21 million people in need of assistance in Yemen and of those currently 5.9 million children are going hungry.

Mark Kaye, Director of Advocacy and Communications for Save the Children Yemen, spoke to Lydia O’Kane from the capital Sanaa.

He told her that the port is a life line for humanitarian relief efforts.

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“This port is pretty much the only entry port for humanitarian aid and commercial goods into the north and the centre of the country”. He goes to say that “families and children are going to bed not knowing where their next meal is coming from.”

The Houthis seized Sanaa last September in what they called a revolution against a corrupt government.

They then succeeded to take over much of the country.

The Saudi-backed government fled to the southern port of Aden, then escaped to Riyadh in March.

Gulf Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia intervened in the conflict to try to restore it to power.

The United Nations estimates that the conflict in Yemen has killed nearly 400 children since the end of March, and a similar number of children have been recruited by armed groups.

It also warns that the fighting shows ``no sign of a resolution.''