Water Facility Attack Cuts Off 10,500 People From Safe Drinking Water in Yemen

04:55 GMT, 25 July 2018

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - An attack, carried out this week on the Nushour water facility in Yemen’s northwestern city of Sa’dah, cut off 10,500 people, including over 5,000 children, from safe drinking water, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.

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According to the fund, this has been the third attack on the facility since this March.

"UNICEF deplores in the strongest terms yet another attack on vital and lifesaving water systems in Yemen. A large water facility in Sa’ada, northwest of the country, came under attack this week. This is the third such attack on the same facility. More than half of the project is now damaged, cutting off 10,500 people from safe drinking water," a UNICEF report quoted Geert Cappelaere, the UNICEF Regional Director in the Middle East and North Africa.

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According to the report, cutting off children and their families from safe drinking water increases the spread of water-borne diseases in the country, as well as the number of deaths among the country’s civilians.

The fund also urged all the warring parties in crisis-torn Yemen to cease their military activities near any civilian infrastructure, including water facilities, schools, and hospitals.

The conflict between the Yemeni government and the Houthis, ongoing since 2014, has resulted in thousands of people being killed and a major nationwide humanitarian crisis. The conflict has already left 8.6 million children in Yemen without regular access to safe drinking water, according to UNICEF figures.