Saudi-led coalition says to open humanitarian corridors from Yemen's Hodeida

A Saudi-led military alliance fighting in Yemen said on Monday it would open humanitarian corridors between two key rebel held areas - Hodeida port and the capital Sanaa - in coordination with the UN.

"The coalition is working with (UN humanitarian agency) OCHA in Yemen to establish safe humanitarian corridors to help in the delivery of aid... between Hodeida and Sanaa," coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki told reporters in Riyadh.

The coalition aims to open three corridors on different routes between the cities for the transportation of humanitarian aid between 6am and 6pm daily, Maliki said without specifying a date.

The coalition, led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, last week renewed a large-scale offensive on Hodeida, raising fears of a deepening humanitarian crisis.

Yemen Director for aid group CARE International Johan Mooij told The New Arab conditions were "rapidly deteriorating" there, and warned a full scale assault on Hodeida would see the situation get very bad very quickly.

"The question is how long will the supply routes stay open, and the mills for grain. The UN has really been lobbying so that whatever happens militarily, the port will remain open," he said.

Yemen's Houthi rebels, linked to Saudi arch-rival Iran, seized both Hodeida and Sanaa in 2014, forcing the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to flee south.

The coalition launched a major operation to retake Hodeida in June, resulting in a sharp rise in civilian casualties as a result of coalition air strikes and ground attacks by pro-government forces, Save the Children said on Monday.

The offensive was put on hold for 11 weeks as the United Nations struggled to bring warring parties to peace talks in Geneva. But the talks collapsed this month, and the coalition renewed its assault.

Hodeida port is a vital lifeline for aid shipments to Yemen, the most impoverished country in the Arab world.

The UN has warned that any major fighting could halt the distribution of food, adding a further 3.5 million people to the 8 million Yemenis on the brink of famine.

"We are losing the fight against famine," Mark Lowcock, the under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, told the UN Security Council on Friday.

"We are already seeing pockets of famine-like-conditions, including cases where people are eating leaves because they have no other form of sustenance," he said.

Agencies contributed to this report.

Follow us on Twitter: @The_NewArab