UN Security Council to hold urgent meeting on Yemen; UN warns services 'on brink of collapse'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}People search for survivors under the rubble of houses destroyed by Saudi-led airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, May 1, 2015. Saudi Arabia leads a coalition of mostly Sunni Arab countries conducting airstrikes against the rebels who have overrun the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and forced the Western-backed president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, to flee the country. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed) (The Associated Press)
The U.N. Security Council is set to hold an emergency meeting on Yemen, where the U.N. chief has warned that basic services are "on the brink of collapse."
Lithuania, which now holds the rotating council presidency, has tweeted that the council will meet in closed consultations Friday afternoon.
The U.N. political chief, Jeffrey Feltman, will brief.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The meeting comes a day after Ban Ki-moon's office again called for an immediate ceasefire, or at least humanitarian pauses, as a Saudi-led Sunni coalition continues airstrikes against a Shiite rebel group that is supported by Iran.
That statement also warned that already challenged humanitarian operations in the Arab world's poorest country will end within days unless fuel imports return.