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UN Medical Relief Flights ContinueFromYemen's Capital

Associated Press

   CAIRO - Flights transporting Yemeni medical patients from rebel-held
   areas continued Saturday when a second planecarrying 24 patients took
   off from Sanaa bound for Jordan's capital, the U.N. health agency said.

   The U.N. flights, which beganthis week,are seen asa humanitarian
   breakthrough in the more thanfive-year-old conflict in the Arab world's
   poorest country. The conflict began with the 2014 takeover of the
   capital,Sanaa,by the rebel Houthis, who control much of the country's
   north.

   A Saudi-led military coalition allied with Yemen's internationally
   recognized government has been fighting the Iran-backed Houthis since
   2015. The U.S.-backed coalition closed the airspace and prevented any
   flights from leaving Sanaa, starting in August 2016.

   The Associated Press reported in November that Saudi Arabia and the
   Houthiswere holding indirect, behind-the-scenes talks to end the war
   mediated by Oman, quoting officials from both sides.

   The talks are focused on interim agreements, such as reopening Yemen's
   main international airport in Sanaa, which was shut down by the
   Saudi-led coalition in 2016.

   Result of talks?

   There has been no announced explanation for the medicalflightsbut they
   could be a result of talks between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis. The
   first such flight since the air blockade carrying eight patients and
   their families left Sanaa onMonday.

   Saturday's flight was originally scheduled to depart Sanaa the previous
   day. However,it did not take off ``for technical reasons,'' the World
   Health Organization said Friday, without giving details.

   Twenty-four patients and their family members ``have departed on the
   second flight today from Sanaa toAmmanto receive the treatment,'' the
   WHO tweeted.

   Among those who left Sanaa on Saturday wasEntisar, 30, a cancer
   patient. WHO said the cancer had spread all over her body.

   ``The physicalandpsychological pain is unbearable. All I want is to
   feel better,'' she was quoted as saying by the U.N. agency. Her last
   name was not given.

   Welcoming the arrival of the second flight to Amman, U.N. envoy to
   Yemen Martin Griffiths said the two flights transported patients to
   ``receive lifesaving medical care currently unavailable in Yemen.''

   Criticism of delay

   The Houthi rebels criticized the U.N. for the delay of the second
   flight and for the small number of patients airlifted out of Sanaa. The
   rebel-run health ministry has said that 32,000 peopleneedurgent medical
   and surgical intervention, such as kidney transplants and heart
   surgeries.

   The grinding war in Yemen has killed more than 10,000 people and
   created the world's worst humanitarian crisis, leaving millions
   suffering from food and medical care shortages and pushing the
   countrynear afamine.

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