Over 3,000 people were killed in Yemen in the first approximately 100 days of the Western-backed, Saudi-led bombing campaign. Roughly half of those killed were civilians, according to the UN.

On July 6 alone, one of the most violent days in the offensive, almost 200 Yemenis were killed in Saudi-led airstrikes. Scores of civilians died in attacks on markets.

At least one million Yemenis have been displaced since the bombing began on March 26. 21 million Yemenis, 80% of the population, are in need of humanitarian assistance.

Yemen is the poorest country in the Middle East. Before the war broke out, over half of the population lived on less than $2 USD a day and had no access to clean water, according to the World Food Program. 41% of the population was food-insecure, and child malnutrition rates were among the highest in the world. Unemployment rates exceeded 40%, over 60% among the youth.

90% of Yemen’s food is imported, yet Saudi Arabia’s stringent air, water, and land blockade, in the name of preventing weapons from entering the war-torn country, has prevented not just food, but also fuel, medicine, and urgently needed aid from getting to the millions in need.

Even journalists have been denied entry by Saudi forces. The Nation foreign correspondent Matthieu Aikins explained he had to smuggle his crew in by boat from neighboring Djibouti.

In the meantime, extremist groups, namely al-Qaeda, have flourished in these dire conditions.