Death Toll From Yemen War Nears 377,000: UN

A new report from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) estimates that the war in Yemen will have cost some 377,000 lives by the end of the year—the vast majority of them children. The Nov. 23 UNDP report comes as a coalition of lawmakers led by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) move to block the sale of some $650 million in arms to Saudi Arabia. The war in Yemen has been described as a proxy fight between Iranian-backed Houthis and a Saudi-supported coalition of Arabs. The UNDP said this conflict will have caused some 377,000 deaths by the end of 2021—up from an estimated 233,000 deaths as of 2019. The report cites the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, which compiles its figures by combing through hundreds of local media reports and other sources. “These deaths are overwhelmingly made up of young children who are especially vulnerable to under and malnutrition,” the report …