First aid ship arrives in Yemen port after Saudi-led coalition eases blockade

A ship carrying 5,500 tonnes of flour docked in Yemen's Hodeidah port in the Red Sea on Sunday, marking the first such shipment after more than two weeks of a blockade by a Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi movement. Saudi Arabia and its allies closed air, land and sea access to the Arabian Peninsula country on November 6, to stop what it calls a flow of arms to the Houthis from Iran. The action came after Saudi Arabia intercepted a missile fired towards its capital, Riyadh. The delivery is the first aid to arrive through Hodeidah port, controlled by the Houthis, after the coalition allowed a flight carrying humanitarian aid workers to the Yemeni capital of Sanaa on Saturday. Aid agencies said the blockade had aggravated the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, where the war has killed more than 10,000 people and left an estimated 7 million facing famine.