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Two UN convoys with food for nearly 145,000 people reach Yemen city of Taiz

Xinhua, December 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

Two convoys of assistance from the World Food Programme (WFP) have arrived in the central Yemeni city of Taiz, with badly needed food supplies for residents living in dire conditions under a virtual state of siege, a UN spokesman told reporters here Thursday.

"The food is enough to feed nearly 145,000 people for one month," Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman, said at a daily news briefing here.

The two convoys of 31 trucks carrying various types of food arrived in the city's Salah and al-Qahira areas Tuesday and a third one is currently on its way to Mudhafar district.

"WFP has stressed that it needs freedom and safety of movement inside the country to reach as many people as possible with food assistance before they fall deeper into hunger," Haq said.

The Saudi-led coalition made up of nine states has been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthi group on a daily basis across Yemen since March 26, when Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi fled to the Saudi capital Riyadh to take refuge.

The coalition said its intervention aims to restore Hadi's authority in the country.

The Shiite armed group seized much of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa last September, and ousted Hadi and his government.

Pro-government forces, backed by elite troops and armored vehicles from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, have recaptured five southern provinces, including the southern city port of Aden, after a series of ground offensives against the Houthis since July. Endit