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Aid group: Thousands of Yemeni children fleeing fighting

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — About 3,000 Yemeni children are fleeing every day from the port city of Hodeida as fighting between a Saudi-led coalition and Yemen’s Shiite rebels continues to rage along the country’s west coast, an international aid group said.

Save the Children estimated that 6,238 people — half of them children — leave Hodeida on average “every single day.”

But their trek to safer areas is perilous as families often find themselves “having to brave minefields, airstrikes and being forced to cross areas of active fighting all in a bid to escape” Hodeida, a statement from the group said.

The Saudi-led coalition backing Yemeni’s internationally recognized government has been fighting to defeat the rebels, known as Houthis, since March 2015. It has been recently seeking to retake rebel-held areas along the country’s western coast, including Hodeida, the main entry point for food in a country teetering on the brink of famine.

In a bid to prevent an all-out fight in Hodeida, the U.N. special envoy for Yemen has been pushing to bring the warring parties to the negotiating table.

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