Story highlights Saudi diplomats exerted "massive" pressure on U.N. to be removed from blacklist

Place on list was result of Saudi-led coalition's bombing of Yemen

New York (CNN) Saudi Arabia and Muslim allies demanded to be removed from a blacklist for killing children in Yemen by applying huge pressure on U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, a U.N. official tells CNN.

The Saudi-led coalition -- made up of several Arab countries -- began a military campaign in Yemen in March 2015 aimed at preventing Houthi rebels allied to Iran and forces loyal to Yemen's deposed President Ali Abdullah Saleh from taking power.

But last month, a U.N. report claimed the alliance was responsible for 60% of the 1,953 children recorded as killed or maimed in the conflict in 2015 -- a sixfold rise since the previous year. They were added to a blacklist of of groups violating children's rights in armed conflict, before dropping off the list again earlier this week.

That's because Saudi Arabia made a threat of a "total rupture" in relations between the Kingdom and the U.N., placing in doubt hundreds of millions of dollars in financial contributions to U.N. humanitarian agencies and causes, the U.N. official said.

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