ADEN: A Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen has barred a United Nations aid flight from heading to the country’s rebel-held capital with journalists on board, the UN and Yemen’s government said on Wednesday.

“The coalition suspended the UN flight leaving Djibouti for Sanaa on Tuesday as there were three BBC journalists on board,” said Saleh Humeidi, a top official with Yemen’s information ministry.

International organisations require clearance to deliver aid to the country, which the UN says is the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis. The UN on Wednesday confirmed that the flight had been cancelled despite all those on board having the required visas.

“We confirm that the coalition cancelled yesterday the Djibouti-Sanaa UN flight because of a BBC team on the manifest, asking for the flight to be rescheduled without the journalists,” said Ahmed Ben Lassoued, Yemen spokesman for the UN’s humanitarian coordination office, UNOCHA. Ben Lassoued said the journalists had secured visas from both sides of Yemen’s conflict — government and rebel authorities — and shared their itinerary with the Saudi-led coalition.

Our correspondent adds: The United Nations refugee agency said on Wednesday it was “deeply shocked and saddened” over reports of deaths and injuries to internally displaced persons in a Saudi-led air attack in Yemen.

At least 20 people were killed in Tuesday’s air strike on positions of Houthi rebels in Mawza, Taez province.

“This latest incident once again demonstrates the extreme dangers facing civilians in Yemen, particularly those attempting to flee violence, as they disproportionately bear the brunt of the conflict,” said William Spindler, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in a press release.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2017