By Ahmad Shihadah

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SA’DA, Yemen – Some 240 villages in Saudi Arabia have been evacuated due to an escalation of fighting in Northern Yemen. The United Nations has reported Friday that “fighting has now spilled into Saudi Arabia, reportedly causing 240 villages to be evacuated and more than 50 schools to be closed.”

Saudi Arabia, the world’s oil exporter, launched an offensive last week after Yemeni rebels seized Saudi territory along the mountainous border from which they said the Saudis had been allowing Yemeni troops to use to attack their positions.  A Saudi government advisor said on Thursday that Saudi Arabia is using air power and artillery to enforce a six mile deep buffer zone inside Yemen to keep the Shi’ite rebels away from its southwestern border.

The fighting worsens an already bleak humanitarian situation in northern Yemen, where the United Nations now says 175,000 people have been displaced by the fighting. More than 15,000 are staying in al-Mazraq camp in Hajjah province, the population of which has doubled in the past month, according to the U.N. children’s agency. “Deaths have been recorded among children in the camp as malnutrition, already a chronic problem in Yemen, is reaching alarming levels.” Sigrid Kaag, UNICEF’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement.

The U.N. refugee agency said that up to 900 people have been arriving every day at al-Mazraq which has exceeded its capacity. United Nations High Council on Refugees estimated its current population at 10,000. “The lastest sudden influx is adding more pressure on an already dire situation, and overcrowding in the camp is becoming a major concern.” UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic said.

For more information, please see:

Earth Times – UN: Saudi Villages Evacuated Over Yemen Fighting – 13 November 2009

VOA – More Civilians Flee War-Torn Yemen – 13 November 2009

Reuters – Saudi Villages Evacuated Due Yemen Violence – UNICEF