Date: Sep 25, 2020
Source: The Daily Star
Yemen rebels mark 2,000 days of 'resistance' with stacks of cash
Agence France Presse
SANAA: Huthi rebels marked 2,000 days of "resistance" against the Saudi-led coalition in war-torn Yemen Thursday with a display of stacks of cash, food and other donations presented to their fighters.

The coalition intervened in the Yemen war in March 2015 to bolster the internationally recognised government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi against the insurgents, who took over the capital Sanaa in late 2014.

In a country that the United Nations says is teetering on the edge of famine, piles of food donated by tribesmen were loaded on trucks and displayed at Sanaa's Al-Sabeen Square.

In the middle of the square was a multi-layered pyramid of Yemeni riyals, closely guarded by armed fighters, and another set of stacks on the ground spelling out "2000".

Other banknotes were arranged to spell out September 21, the date on which the Huthis seized control of the capital.

In 2017, the rebels -- who control much of the north -- marked 1,000 days since the intervention of the coalition with a parade in the Yemeni capital. Since then, attempts to find a political solution to the ruinous conflict have made little headway.

Tens of thousands of people -- mostly civilians -- have been killed in the conflict between the government and the Iran-backed Huthis.

A majority of the population relies on aid for survival, according to the United Nations, which has called the situation in Yemen the world's worst humanitarian crisis.