Research Group Puts Yemen War’s Toll at 60,000: Six Times Higher than UN’s

According to The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) said on Tuesday that 60,223 people have been killed in Yemen between January 2016 and the end of November 2018.

That’s more than six times higher than a previous UN estimate that put the death toll in Yemen at 10,000.

Saudi Arabia and its main ally the UAE launched devastating military campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the aim of bringing the government of former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing Ansarullah resistance movement.

The death toll “is far higher than official estimates - and still underestimated,” ACLED’s executive director, Clionadh Raleigh, said in a statement.

“Fatality numbers are only one approximation of the abject tragedy and terror forced upon Yemenis from several sides. This cannot be overstated,” Raleigh said.

The figure includes both combatants and civilians who were killed as a direct result of war on Yemen.

It does not include deaths caused by disease or malnutrition, as thousands more have died in Yemen as a result of the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the country.

Up to 85,000 children under five may have died as a result of starvation or disease since the beginning of the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen in April 2015, Save the Children said last month.

The United Nations has also warned that as many as 14 million people could be on the brink of starvation across the country.

According to ACLED’s data, nearly half of all combat-related deaths since 2016 took place so far this year.

Of all the fatalities, 28,182 were recorded in the first 11 months of 2018. That marks a 68 percent increase compared to last year, the group said.

November 2018 was also the deadliest month since ACLED began tabulating the death toll nearly three years ago, with 3,058 reported fatalities.

Notably, the group found that 37 percent of the civilians killed in armed violence so far this year died in the city of Hudaydah.

Seventy percent of the food aid and imports enter Yemen through the city’s port, AP reported, and Hudaydah has been the scene of fierce fighting between the Ansarullah and Saudi mercenaries, as the Saudi-led coalition has sought to retake Hudaydah from the resistance group.