Making Yemen’s Humanitarian Catastrophe Even Worse

Washington Post calls Trump administration to pressure the Saudi coalition to stop its attack on the port of Hodeidah:
The worst humanitarian crisis in the world may be about to become much worse. In Yemen, where some 8 million people are on the verge of famine, and the worst cholera epidemic in history raging, the country’s most important port became the target of a new attack in the three-year civil war. Yemeni forces backed by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are seeking to take off and eventually capture Hodeidah, a city of 700,000 people, the point of entry for 70 percent of aid shipments that keep millions of civilians alive. The United States, which supplies the Saudi-UAE alliance with weapons and intelligence, must use its influence to stop this reckless project.
The United States should do exactly as the newspaper recommends, but the fact that the attack is happening indicates that Trump’s administration supports the alliance’s decision to attack the port or tells us that the coalition does not think it will face any consequences. In any case. Trump showed no interest in pressuring the Saudis and their allies, and his administration fought all Congressional efforts to end US support for the war. It would be good news that the administration suddenly changed its position on the war on Yemen, but we have to assume that it will not.
The alliance’s attack on Hodeidah is likely to make it impossible to use the port for weeks or months to come. This means that the main entry point for commercial imports and humanitarian aid to the country will be unfit for work, while more than eight million are already on the brink of famine. The United Nations has just warned that another 10 million are at risk of starvation by the end of the year and that any attack on Hodeidah will accelerate that outcome. Even if the coalition takes the port quickly, it will still be a death sentence for countless Yemeni civilians. Not only can we expect the coalition attack to be as indiscriminate and destructive as the rest of their war effort, but the coalition attack will certainly cut most Yemenis from their main source of food and fuel.
The coalition has been besieging Yemen for more than three years and deliberately attacks their food production and distribution, so when the crisis worsens as a result of coalition actions, this will not be accidental. The coalition is trying to starve Yemen in submission for years, and this attack is the latest part of it. Even the so-called “liberated” areas in Yemen suffer from severe shortages of food and other basic necessities, so it is inevitable that they will be worse in and around Hodeidah during and after this attack. As in the last three years, the civilian population in Yemen is paying the price for an unnecessary and brutal war waged by the Saudi coalition and its Western backers. If the Trump administration continues to help and incite the coalition in its war