Aid group: Fighting around key Yemen port imperils lifeline

CAIRO – An international aid group is warning that escalation of fighting around Yemen’s port city of Hodeida threatens to cut off essential supplies to millions of people in the war-ravaged country.

Muhsin Siddiquey, Oxfam’s chief in Yemen, said on Wednesday that if the Hodeida port is blocked, “the result will be more hunger … and more families burying their loved ones.”

Oxfam says fighting between pro-government forces and Shiite rebels has already forced hundreds of families to flee their homes.

Government forces have been trying to seize rebel-held Hodeida, a vital lifeline from which most of Yemen’s population gets food and medicine.

Yemen’s civil war has raged since March 2015 between Houthi rebels and government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition. The war has pushed Yemen to the brink of famine.