Saturday, April 11, 2015

Yemen: A humanitarian catastrophe...

It was 2:30 in the morning on Thursday 26 March, in Sanaa, Yemen. I thought, and in fact I hoped, I was being shaken awake by a severe thunderstorm. Things had been heating up across Yemen for months, but no one had forecast this type of storm.

The deep booms quickly gave way to anti-aircraft gunfire, jolting me out of bed. With no electricity I quickly felt around for whatever clothes I could grasp in the darkness. I yelled for my colleagues and ran downstairs as fast as I could while keeping myself crouched low, below the windows.

Down in a safer space my colleagues and I waited out the first night of Operation Decisive Storm. I forced myself to take refuge in logic, 'we are in a civilian house, there's no way anyone would target us.' I convinced myself we were safe as the sounds of war filled the air. When daylight came, fighting gave way to the sound of singing birds. Full of adrenaline, not one of us would get back to sleep. We would not sleep for the next five nights.

Working around the clock our security advisor kept us up to date on what was going on, and where. We learned that the airport had been hit, and that sea and air routes into the country had been closed. My first thought: we are going to plunge into humanitarian disaster. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Nobody will win the war in Yemen...
  2. 6 children dead in Yemen as Saudi-led coalition airstrike hits school...
  3. Saving Yemen: Time to boycott Saudi oil is now...
  4. The Madness of King Saud...
  5. Yemen turmoil: Over 500 killed in 2 weeks of fighting...
  6. Saudi-led airstrike in Yemen kills family of nine...
  7. The battle for the Middle East's future begins in Yemen as Saudi Arabia...

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