75% of Yemen's Population Live Without Water, Sanitation Services

A displaced Yemeni woman in Sanaa carries cans to fill water tanks (EPA)
A displaced Yemeni woman in Sanaa carries cans to fill water tanks (EPA)
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75% of Yemen's Population Live Without Water, Sanitation Services

A displaced Yemeni woman in Sanaa carries cans to fill water tanks (EPA)
A displaced Yemeni woman in Sanaa carries cans to fill water tanks (EPA)

Houthi group continues to obstruct peace efforts and push towards an unprecedented exacerbation of the humanitarian situation, despite warnings of the international relief organizations, which confirmed that three-quarters of the population would have no access to water and sanitation services over the next year.

A joint methodological note on the conditions of water and sanitation services explained how the number of People in Need (PIN) of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) assistance and the WASH Severity Scores for each district in Yemen would be calculated for the 2023 Yemen Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO).

The organizations pointed out that Yemen has been the world's worst humanitarian crisis during the past five years, and the humanitarian situation remains critical as the country enters its eighth year of the war.

The humanitarian situation in Yemen remains critical, with economic decline and protracted armed conflict causing many Yemenis to need assistance.

The conflict has further aggravated the country's underlying food insecurity while compromising essential services and infrastructure, including health and education, and significantly damaging the economy and the social fabric.

The joint note stated that Yemen remained the sixth largest internal displacement crisis globally, with an IDP population of over 4.3 million.

In the 2022 HNO, the Yemen WASH Cluster (YWC) reported an increase from 2021 in the number of people in need of support to meet their WASH needs by 16 percent (17.8 million people in need), while the number of people in acute needs increased by 28.7 percent (11.2 million people in acute need).

According to these numbers, less than a quarter of the population has access to safe WASH services.

The note warned that despite these pressing needs, global funding has fallen short of meeting all required budget for WASH by $2.7 billion, stressing the need to identify and prioritize the communities most in need and determining their vulnerabilities and risks.

To understand the WASH needs, risks, and vulnerabilities of the population in Yemen, the 2023 HNO assesses WASH-related indicators across all districts in Yemen.

The YWC has partnered with REACH to produce an analysis of these indicators to determine the number of populations in need, and the severity of needs, by demographic group and geographic location.

The document outlines using indicators and resources for informing the HNO, building these indicators, scaling the severity of needs, and calculating the number of populations in need.



Syria Announces Ceasefire after Latest Outbreak of Deadly Sectarian Violence

A man holds a placard reading in Arabic "let us raise our voices against the aggression" during a protest against Israeli airstrikes in southern Syria, in Aleppo, Syria, 15 July 2025. (EPA)
A man holds a placard reading in Arabic "let us raise our voices against the aggression" during a protest against Israeli airstrikes in southern Syria, in Aleppo, Syria, 15 July 2025. (EPA)
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Syria Announces Ceasefire after Latest Outbreak of Deadly Sectarian Violence

A man holds a placard reading in Arabic "let us raise our voices against the aggression" during a protest against Israeli airstrikes in southern Syria, in Aleppo, Syria, 15 July 2025. (EPA)
A man holds a placard reading in Arabic "let us raise our voices against the aggression" during a protest against Israeli airstrikes in southern Syria, in Aleppo, Syria, 15 July 2025. (EPA)

Syria 's defense minister announced a ceasefire shortly after government forces entered a key city in southern Sweida province on Tuesday, a day after sectarian clashes killed dozens there. Neighboring Israel again launched strikes on Syrian military forces, saying it was protecting the Druze minority.

The latest escalation under Syria’s new leaders began with tit-for-tat kidnappings and attacks between local Bedouin tribes and Druze armed factions in the southern province, a center of the Druze community.

Syrian government forces, sent to restore order on Monday, also clashed with Druze armed groups.

On Tuesday, Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra said an agreement was struck with the city’s "notables and dignitaries" and that government forces would "respond only to the sources of fire and deal with any targeting by outlaw groups."

However, scattered clashes continued after his announcement, as did allegations that security forces had committed violations against civilians.

Syria’s Interior Ministry said Monday that more than 30 people had been killed, but has not updated the figures since. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, said Tuesday that 166 people had been killed since Sunday, including five women and two children.

Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa said in a statement that he had tasked authorities with "taking immediate legal action against anyone proven to have committed a transgression or abuse, regardless of their rank or position."

Associated Press journalists in Sweida province saw forces at a government checkpoint searching cars and confiscating suspected stolen goods from both civilians and soldiers.

Israeli airstrikes targeted government forces' convoys heading into the provincial capital of Sweida and in other areas of southern Syria.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said the strikes sought to "prevent the Syrian regime from harming" the Druze religious minority "and to ensure disarmament in the area adjacent to our borders with Syria." In Israel, the Druze are seen as a loyal minority and often serve in the armed forces.

Meanwhile, Israeli Cabinet member and Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli called on X for Sharaa to be "eliminated without delay."

A soldier's story Manhal Yasser Al-Gor, of the Interior Ministry forces, was being treated for shrapnel wounds at a local hospital after an Israeli strike hit his convoy.

"We were entering Sweida to secure the civilians and prevent looting. I was on an armored personnel carrier when the Israeli drone hit us," he said, adding that there were "many casualties."

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said Israeli strikes had killed several innocent civilians" as well as soldiers, and called them "a reprehensible example of ongoing aggression and external interference" in Syria's internal matters.

It said the Syrian state is committed to protecting the Druze, "who form an integral part of the national identity and united Syrian social fabric."

Israel has taken an aggressive stance toward Syria’s new leaders since Sharaa's opposition fighters ousted former President Bashar al-Assad in December, saying it doesn't want militants near its borders.

Israeli forces have seized a UN-patrolled buffer zone on Syrian territory along the border with the Golan Heights and launched hundreds of airstrikes on military sites in Syria.

Earlier Tuesday, religious leaders of the Druze community in Syria called for armed factions that have been clashing with government forces to surrender their weapons and cooperate with authorities. One of the main Druze spiritual leaders later released a video statement retracting the call.

Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri, who has been opposed to the government in Damascus, said in the video that the initial Druze leaders' statement had been issued after an agreement with the authorities in Damascus but that "they broke the promise and continued the indiscriminate shelling of unarmed civilians."

"We are being subjected to a total war of annihilation," he claimed, without offering evidence.

Some videos on social media showed armed fighters with Druze captives, beating them and, in some cases, forcibly shaving men's moustaches.

The violence drew international concern. The US envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, called the violence "worrisome on all sides" in a post on.

"We are attempting to come to a peaceful, inclusive outcome for Druze, Bedouin tribes, the Syrian government and Israeli forces," he said.