Turkey, Qatar to donate $1 million to Yemen

A total of $1 million cash will be donated to Yemen for humanitarian aid as part of a protocol signed between the Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) and the Qatar Charity Foundation.

Turkish Red Crescent head Kerem Kınık and Qatar Charity Foundation CEO Faisal Rashid Al Fehaida on Sunday signed the cooperation protocol during a ceremony at the Presidency Office of the Red Crescent in Istanbul.

As part of the protocol, two projects will be implemented in Yemen. Firstly, $1 million cash will be donated to provide food aid, Kınık said.

Secondly, a gastroenterological endoscopic treatment center would be established at a hospital in Yemen, he added.

"We will continue to support the Red Crescent for its projects in Yemen that will meet food needs, particularly hospital needs," Faisal Rashid Al Fehaida said.

According to the UN, more than 22 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance or protection.

Impoverished Yemen has been wracked by conflict since 2014, when the Houthis overran much of the country, including capital Sanaa.

The conflict escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-Arab allies launched a wide-ranging military campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi gains in Yemen.

Riyadh has repeatedly accused the Houthis of acting as a proxy force for Iran.