PARIS — France has pledged an additional 3 million euros ($3.36 million) in humanitarian support for Yemen, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot announced. The commitment comes as renewed fighting has displaced nearly 200,000 people across the country.
The International Organization for Migration reported that more than 184,000 individuals have been forced from their homes since early August, with the majority displaced since early September. In the week ending October 3 alone, the IOM recorded nearly 21,800 people displaced.
Yemen has been engulfed in civil war since 2014, shaped by proxy intervention that has created a protracted humanitarian emergency. The country, already the lowest-income in the Middle East, faced one of the world's most severe humanitarian crises before the latest wave of violence.
United Nations relief agencies have categorized the recent influx of displaced civilians as an emergency compounding long-standing crises. The sudden volume of people has further strained Yemen's fragile infrastructure.
The World Health Organization highlighted that Yemen's public health system has been crippled by the civil war and severe logistical deficits, preventing it from managing a rapid increase in displaced individuals.
France's pledge coincides with its broader engagement in regional security. President Emmanuel Macron previously committed to sending soldiers to Saudi Arabia to help secure energy sites, a move that followed what appeared to be one of the largest attacks since the conflict escalated. The Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen confirmed shooting down six ballistic missiles aimed at the Saudi cities of Yanbu and Taif.
