10,000 Yemeni patients killed in Saudi siege

Around 10,000 patients in Yemen, who were prevented from travelling abroad for treatment, have lost their lives since Saudi Arabia’s aerial embargo against the war-torn country began, country’s health ministry announced on Tuesday.

The ministry’s spokesman Abdul-Hakim al-Kuhlani told Yemeni media that the deaths were the result of the Saudi regime’s “continued aggression, siege and continued hostile restrictions on Sana’a International Airport.”

He said some 75,000 patients are estimated to be in need of seeking treatment abroad each year, slamming Riyadh and its allies for targeting Yemeni civilians and, at the same time, preventing those injured from leaving the country to receive treatment.

The Kingdom also blocks the entry of medicine into the country, now hit by a cholera spread, which has killed hundreds of people, al-Kuhlani added.

The capital’s International Airport also announced that the Saudi embargo has left 100,000 Yemenis stranded abroad, while blocking the exit of 300,000 others, including patients.

The Saudi regime and its allies, backed by the US, began a military campaign against Yemen in March 2015, to reinstall its former government. The war has killed over 12,000 civilians since then and injured thousands of others.