Yemen

Yemen, officially known as the Republic of Yemen, is an Arab country in Western Asia at the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is the second biggest country in the peninsula but one of the Arab world's poorest.

It has been devastated since 2015 by a full-scale military campaign led by a Saudi-led coalition of Arab states in support of the internationally-recognised government of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and agains forces allied to the Houthi rebel movement.

Civilians have borne the greatest impact of the ongoing war, which has displaced millions and killed thousands of people, including children.

The military coalition now includes Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Sudan and Senegal. Several countries have sent ground troops to fight in Yemen, while others have only carried out air strikes.

Increased airstrikes in 2017

According to a Reuters report:

Yemen suffered more airstrikes in the first half of this year than in the whole of 2016, increasing the number of civilian deaths and forcing more people to flee their homes, according to a report by international aid agencies.

The pace of clashes on the ground has also intensified this year, especially around Yemen’s third largest city, Taiz, which is besieged by the Iran-aligned Houthis, said the report.

The number of airstrikes in the first six months of 2017 totaled 5,676, according to the report by the Protection Cluster in Yemen, which is led by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), up from 3,936 for all 2016.