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UN Reports Warn Floods Threaten Quarter of IDP Sites in Yemen

Yemeni women collect water from an irrigation pipe next to empty tanks on the outskirts of Sanaa. (EPA)
Yemeni women collect water from an irrigation pipe next to empty tanks on the outskirts of Sanaa. (EPA)
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UN Reports Warn Floods Threaten Quarter of IDP Sites in Yemen

Yemeni women collect water from an irrigation pipe next to empty tanks on the outskirts of Sanaa. (EPA)
Yemeni women collect water from an irrigation pipe next to empty tanks on the outskirts of Sanaa. (EPA)

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned of floods threatening one-quarter of the Internally displaced persons' sites in Yemen.

There are more than half a million individuals in these camps.

Climate change and civil turbulences have widely impacted food item prices in Yemen and made millions become victims of food insecurity.

FAO prepared an update for the yearly National IDP Site Flood Hazard Analysis. In total, 571 (25 percent) of assessed IDP sites have a High Flood Hazard covering a total of 603,000 site residents.

The top 5 governorates with assessed IDP sites having High Flood hazards include Hodeidah (29 percent), Hajjah (27 percent), Al Jawf (22 percent), Marib (13 percent), and Taiz (9 percent).

“An estimated 77 percent of the 4.3 million people displaced in Yemen are women and children, while approximately 26 percent of displaced households are now headed by women, compared to 9 percent before the escalation of the conflict in 2015,” according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

“An estimated 8.1 million women and girls of childbearing age require help accessing reproductive health services, including antenatal care,” it added.

“One Yemeni woman dies every two hours during childbirth,” according to the Fund.

The UNFPA added: “Over 1 million pregnant and breastfeeding women are projected to experience acute malnutrition sometime in the course of 2022.”

“People in informal displacement sites are the worst affected, with women and girls, especially female-headed households, people with disabilities, and the elderly the most vulnerable to protection risks.

“Women and girls in the host community must walk more than two hours twice a day to collect drinking water. The journey can be unsafe, leaving them facing increased risks, including forms of gender-based violence (GBV), on the way to or at crowded water points.”

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Israeli Escalation Raises Tensions as Lebanon Prepares to Hold Municipal Elections in South

Lebanese soldiers stand next to a vehicle hit by an Israeli strike in Abu al-Aswad, southern Lebanon. (AFP)
Lebanese soldiers stand next to a vehicle hit by an Israeli strike in Abu al-Aswad, southern Lebanon. (AFP)
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Israeli Escalation Raises Tensions as Lebanon Prepares to Hold Municipal Elections in South

Lebanese soldiers stand next to a vehicle hit by an Israeli strike in Abu al-Aswad, southern Lebanon. (AFP)
Lebanese soldiers stand next to a vehicle hit by an Israeli strike in Abu al-Aswad, southern Lebanon. (AFP)

Lebanon fears that Israeli military escalation could undermine municipal elections scheduled for Saturday in the southern provinces of Nabatieh and South Lebanon, after two days of heavy bombardment raised concerns among voters.

Israeli strikes on Monday and Tuesday targeted areas across the South, fueling anxiety among displaced residents who had planned to return to their villages to vote.

A Lebanese ministerial source told Asharq Al-Awsat the latest escalation, particularly Tuesday’s shelling of towns beyond the immediate border area, appears to be “an attempt by Israel to disrupt voter turnout by heightening tension and fear.”

The source added that the strikes seemed aimed at “blocking efforts to restore normal life to the South and to undermine a sense of safety through the electoral process.”

Lebanon will press ahead with municipal elections in the South this weekend despite the spike in Israeli attacks, Interior Minister Ahmad Hajjar said on Tuesday, reaffirming that the state would not compromise on its sovereignty.

The elections in the South will conclude the polls that have been held over the past three weeks.

“The Lebanese state has made its decision clear there will be no bargaining over our sovereignty in the South,” Hajjar told reporters after chairing a meeting to oversee preparations for the polls.

Authorities are in contact with international actors to halt Israeli violations during the electoral period, he said, amid fears that security tensions could deter voter turnout or delay ballot counting.

“Israeli aggression and violations continue, and parts of the South remains occupied,” Hajjar said.

“But from the President to the Prime Minister and the Interior Ministry, we are engaged in all necessary diplomatic efforts to stop these violations, especially during the elections, through to the vote count and announcement of results.”

Hajjar expressed hope that talks with member states of the ceasefire committee would help secure a calm election day.

“We are not waiting for guarantees,” he said, “but we are determined to hold these elections and to assert our presence and sovereignty in this dear part of our land.”