As international concern mounts over escalating violence in war-torn Yemen, a UN Security Council meeting will be held Saturday to discuss a Russian request for humanitarian pauses in the Saudi-led airstrike campaign in the country, the AFP reported.
Citing alarm in the spike in civilian deaths in the country since the Saudi's air campaign began, Russia called for the 15-member coucil meeting Friday, the news agency said, leading to a scheduled meet up in New York at 3:00 GMT. Moscow's sentiment was echoed by UN aid chief Valerie Amos, who said earlier this week she was "extremely concerned" about civilians trapped by mounting violence as rival militias face off in the country, where aid agency say some 519 people have been killed and nearly 1,700 injured in two weeks.
Another count by the UN children's agency estimated at least 62 children had been killed in the last week, with another 30 injured and even more recruited as child soldiers by the warring sides.
Mounting violence in Yemen spiraled out of control almost two weeks ago, when Saudi Arabia and 9 other Arab nations launched an air campaign against the Houthis. Since its launch, warplanes have pounded Houthi strongholds across the country and piled on civilian death tolls in the process.
The last two weeks have brought the poor Gulf country's plight to international attention, but restive Yemen has been tipping toward chaos since last September, when Shiite Houthi rebels stormed the capital Sanaa and overran the wobbly leadership of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who the UN backs as Yemen's legitimate leader and the Saudi-led airstrike campaign aims to restore power to.
