UNITED NATIONS: More than 17 million people in conflict-torn Yemen are going hungry, including over a million children under the age of 5 who are suffering from “life-threatening acute malnutrition,” the United Nations humanitarian chief said Wednesday.
Tom Fletcher told the UN Security Council that the food security crisis in the Arab world’s poorest country, which is beset by civil war, has been accelerating since late 2023.
The number of people going hungry could climb to over 18 million by September, he warned, and the number of children with acute malnutrition could surge to 1.2 million early next year, “leaving many at risk of permanent physical and cognitive damage.”
According to experts who produce the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a leading international authority that ranks the severity of hunger, more than 17,000 Yemenis are in the three worst categories of food insecurity — crisis stage or worse.
Fletcher said the UN hasn’t seen the current level of deprivation since before a UN-brokered truce in early 2022. He noted that it is unfolding as global funding for humanitarian aid is plummeting, which means reductions or cuts in food. According to the UN, as of mid-May, the UN’s $2.5 billion humanitarian appeal for Yemen this year had received just $222 million, just 9 percent.
Yemen has been embroiled in civil war since 2014, when Iranian-backed Houthi rebels seized the capital of Sanaa, forcing the internationally recognized government into exile in Saudi Arabia. A Saudi-led coalition intervened months later and has been battling the rebels since 2015 to try and restore the government.
The war has devastated Yemen, created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters, and turned into a stalemated proxy conflict. More than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, have been killed.
Hans Grundberg, the UN special envoy for Yemen, told the council in a video briefing that two Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea this week – the first in over seven months – and Israeli airstrikes on the capital and key ports are escalating the conflict.
The Houthis have vowed to keep targeting vessels in the key waterway until the war in Gaza ends.
Grundberg said freedom of navigation in the Red Sea must be safeguarded and stressed that “Yemen must not be drawn deeper into regional crises that threaten to unravel the already extremely fragile situation in the country.”
“The stakes for Yemen are simply too high,” he said. “Yemen’s future depends on our collective resolve to shield it from further suffering and to give its people the hope and dignity they so deeply deserve.”
Grundberg warned that a military solution to the civil war “remains a dangerous illusion that risks deepening Yemen’s suffering.”
Negotiations offer the best hope to address the complex conflict, he said, and the longer it is drawn out “there is a risk that divisions could deepen further.”
Grundberg said both sides must signal a willingness to explore peaceful avenues — and an important signal would be the release of all conflict-related detainees. The parties have agreed to an all-for-all release, he said, but the process has stagnated for over a year.
More than 17 million people in Yemen going hungry, including 1m children: UN
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More than 17 million people in Yemen going hungry, including 1m children: UN
- Number of children with acute malnutrition could surge to 1.2 million by next year, says humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher
- Plummeting global funding for humanitarian aid in Yemen resulted in drastic reductions or cuts in food
Washington presses Syria to shift from Chinese telecom systems
- Syria is exploring the possibility of procuring Chinese technology
- It was unclear whether the United States pledged financial or logistical support to Syria to do so
DAMASCUS: The United States has warned Syria against relying on Chinese technology in its telecommunications sector, arguing it conflicts with US interests and threatens US national security, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
The message was conveyed during an unreported meeting between a US State Department team and Syrian Communications Minister Abdulsalam Haykal in San Francisco on Tuesday. Washington has been coordinating closely with Damascus since 2024, when Syria’s now President Ahmed Al-Sharaa ousted longtime leader Bashar Assad, who had a strategic partnership with China.
Syria is exploring the possibility of procuring Chinese technology to support its telecommunications towers and the infrastructure of local Internet service providers, according to a Syrian businessman involved in the procurement talks.
“The US side asked for clarity on the ministry’s plans regarding Chinese telecom equipment,” said another source briefed on the talks.
But Syrian officials said infrastructure development projects were time-critical and that Damascus was seeking greater vendor diversity, the source added.
SYRIAN OFFICIALS CITE US EXPORT CONTROLS AS TELECOMS BARRIER
Syria is open to partnering with US firms but the matter was urgent and export controls and “over-compliance” remained an issue, according to person familiar with the meeting in San Francisco.
A US diplomat familiar with the discussions told Reuters that the US State Department “clearly urged Syrians to use American technology or technology from allied countries in the telecoms sector.”
It was unclear whether the United States pledged financial or logistical support to Syria to do so.
Responding to Reuters questions, a US State Department spokesperson said: “We urge countries to prioritize national security and privacy over lower-priced equipment and services in all critical infrastructure procurement. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
The spokesperson added that Chinese intelligence and security services “can legally compel Chinese citizens and companies to share sensitive data or grant unauthorized access to their customers’ systems” and promises by Chinese companies to protect customers’ privacy were “entirely inconsistent with China’s own laws and well-established practices.”
China has repeatedly rejected allegations of it using technology for spying purposes.
The Syrian Ministry of telecommunications told Reuters any decisions related to equipment and infrastructure are made “in accordance with national technical and security standards, ensuring data protection and service continuity.”
The ministry said it is also prioritizing the diversification of partnerships and technology sources to serve the national interest.
Syria’s telecom infrastructure has relied heavily on Chinese technology due to US sanctions imposed on successive Assad governments over the civil war that grew from a crackdown on anti-government protests in 2011.
Huawei technology accounts for more than 50 percent of the infrastructure of Syriatel and MTN, the country’s only telecom operators, according to a senior source at one of the companies and documents reviewed by Reuters. Huawei did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Syria is seeking to develop its private telecommunications sector, devastated by 14 years of war, by attracting foreign investment.
In early February, Saudi Arabia’s largest telecom operator, STC, announced it would invest $800 million to “strengthen telecommunications infrastructure and connect Syria regionally and internationally through a fiber-optic network extending over 4,500 kilometers.”
The ministry of telecommunications says that US restrictions “hinder the availability of many American technologies and services in the Syrian market,” emphasizing that it welcomes expanding cooperation with US companies when these restrictions are lifted.
Syria has inadequate telecommunications infrastructure, with network coverage weak outside city centers and connection speeds in many areas barely exceeding a few kilobits per second.
