UN Security Council to Hold Meeting on Yemen

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council is set to hold an emergency meeting Friday afternoon on Yemen, where the U.N. chief has warned that basic services are "on the brink of collapse."

Diplomats say council member Russia called for the meeting to address the extraordinary humanitarian and security situation.

The meeting comes a day after Ban Ki-moon's office again called for an immediate ceasefire, or at least humanitarian pauses, as a Saudi-led Sunni coalition continues more than a month of airstrikes against a Shiite rebel group that is supported by Iran.

Ban's office said more than 1,200 people have been killed in the conflict, which has turned into a kind of proxy war between Yemen's powerful neighbor Saudi Arabia and Iran. Many of those dead have been civilians.

Ban's statement also warned that already challenged humanitarian operations in the Arab world's poorest country will end within days unless fuel imports return, noting that the violence has "severely blocked" shipments of basic supplies such as food and medial items.

"All airports are closed to civilian traffic — some have come under direct attack — and naval shipments are being delayed," the statement said. "Yemen's health, water and sanitation systems and telecommunications services are on the brink of collapse."

Aid groups and others were alarmed this week when Saudi jets bombed and destroyed the runway at Sanaa's airport on Tuesday, preventing an Iranian plane carrying humanitarian aid from landing.

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