The US announced it's rushing more weapons to aid the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, the BBC reported, in addition to boosting intelligence sharing with Saudi officials.
During a visit to the Saudi capital Riyadh, US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the moves were a US effort to support its Gulf ally Saudi Arabia, as well as to send a "strong message to the Houthis and their allies that they cannot overrun Yemen by force."
He added the US has also set up a center from which they will coordinate with Saudi officials on matters of intelligence and coalition tactics.
As Saudi warplanes pound Houthi rebel positions across the country and street fighting rages between the Shiite rebels and forces loyal to embattled Yemeni president, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, aid agencies warn of a sweeping humanitarian crisis that has so far displaced some 100,000 people.
Both the UN and the World Health Organization have estimated the civilian death toll to be around 550 in the last two weeks, with some 2,000 more injured during the same period. The UN children's agency says children are the most vulnerable victims, with some 74 killed so far.
The International Committee of the Red Cross is among several aid agencies trying to send medical supplies into the port city of Aden and the capital Sanaa, where hospitals say they are being left ill-equipped and overwhelmed with the mounting burden of wounded civilians. The Red Cross said Saturday their shipments were being blocked by Saudi Arabia's airstrike coalition, which now controls air space and port access in Yemen. The 10-nation coalition has since agreed to allow access, but implementation has been slow, with the first batch of supplies arriving only Tuesday night.
"The war in Aden is on every street, in every corner," Marie Claire Feghali, a spokesperson for the Red Cross, told the AFP news agency. "Many are unable to escape."
Reports of hijacked ambulances, overrun hospitals and bodies left in the streets have emerged in recent weeks in Aden as street fighting between warring factions intensifies.
Yemen has been hurling toward a full-fledged civil war since the Houthis stormed the capital Sanaa late last year, driving President Hadi and his parliament out of office and eventually forcing him to flee to Saudi Arabia. A bitter battle for control of Aden and Sanaa has since unfolded between the Houthis and their allies, forces loyal to Yemen's former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and pro-Hadi tribes across the country. The struggle was further inensified when, on March 26, Saudi Arabia launched its multi-nation air campaign against the Houthis, so far targeting their military positions across the country and, aid agencies and witnesses warn, leaving civilian casualties in its wake.
