SANAA — More than 800 people have been killed and thousands more injured or displaced since fighting between the Iran-backed Houthi militia and the Saudi-backed government reignited in Yemen two months ago, the World Health Organization said Monday.
The WHO said in a statement published on social media that 838 people had died, more than 3,000 had been wounded, and tens of thousands had been displaced since early August, when clashes broke out after four years of relative peace. The data did not distinguish between civilians and combatants, the New York Times reported.
The figures offer a glimpse of the toll from fighting that has opened a second front in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
The Houthis have accused Saudi Arabia of launching hundreds of airstrikes in Yemen, which Saudi officials have largely not acknowledged. The Houthi-run health ministry said a Saudi airstrike hit a market in Taiz on Sunday, killing seven people and wounding dozens.
The return to war has deepened one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, the WHO said. In Yemeni hospitals, trauma cases are displacing maternal health patients, while families who have fled their homes face the risk of cholera as they struggle to find clean water.
Yemen’s civil war began in 2014, when the Houthis seized the northwestern part of the country, including the capital, Sanaa. A truce in 2022 brought a fragile peace, but it has unraveled in recent months as the Houthis have battled Saudi-allied forces for territory along multiple front lines.
Separately, Saudi Arabia has resumed exporting oil via the East-West pipeline after repairing damage caused by drone strikes, according to sources cited by the Wall Street Journal.