Image copyright AFP 
 
 Northern Shia Muslim rebels known as Houthis, backed by forces loyal to Yemen's ex-president, took over parts of Yemen, including Sanaa, and forced the government into exile in March 
 
 The rebels accused the government of corruption and of planning to marginalise their heartland within a proposed federal system 
 
 Forces loyal to the government, and southern militia, are fighting back, aided by air strikes led by neighbouring Saudi Arabia 
 
 Yemen crisis: Who is fighting whom? The humanitarian situation has steadily deteriorated since the fighting picked up in March, when Saudi Arabia launched a U.S.-backed coalition air campaign against Houthi forces and their allies, which control large swaths of the country, including the capital. The London-based rights group said the violence has been particularly deadly in the southern city of Aden and in Taiz, with dozens of children among those killed. O'Brien, the U.N. humanitarian chief, called the airstrikes and shelling at Hodeidah a violation of international humanitarian law, saying they damaged "the main lifelines" for importing crucial food, medicine and fuel and could severely impact the entire country.  SANA’A/ADEN - Seeing first-hand the challenges facing millions of people affected by the crisis in Yemen, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director Ertharin Cousin, warned that lack of immediate and unhindered access to people who urgently need food assistance and the shortage of funding create the possibility of famine for millions, mostly women and children already hungry in this war-torn country.
– Things continue to deteriorate in Yemen as the conflict between Houthi rebels and pro-government forces grinds on. But now there's a new problem in the mix: a possible famine, created by what Ertharin Cousin, the executive director of the UN's World Food Programme, calls a "perfect storm" of "lack of staple food, access to clean water, and a diminished fuel supply." In a press release, WFP estimates there are nearly 13 million of what it calls "food insecure" people in the war-torn country, with almost half in especially dire straits. That includes 1.2 million kids who suffer from "moderate" malnourishment and half a million who are severely affected. "The damage to Yemen's next generation may become irreversible if we don't reach children quickly with the right food at the right time," Cousin says. "We must act now before it is too late." Cousin saw the crisis firsthand during a recent three-day trip around the country, where she met with displaced families, moms and malnourished kids in hospitals, and people gathered at food-distribution centers. The UN's humanitarian chief also recently returned from Yemen and told the UN Security Council yesterday that "the scale of human suffering is almost incomprehensible," per the BBC. Semantics means the WFP can't call the situation a full-fledged famine just yet: Per the UN, a food crisis is only considered as such if one-fifth of households have limited ability to deal with "extreme" food shortages; acute malnutrition rates surpass 30%; and the daily death rate is more than two per every 10,000 people. Continued conflict in Yemeni ports has exacerbated the problem, the BBC notes, with a WFP ship hammered by airstrikes Tuesday night in Hodeida. (Per UNICEF, 398 children have been killed in Yemen since March, Al Jazeera reports.)