Iran War Updates: Tehran offers 7-day plan to reopen Strait of Hormuz as it seeks deal before US midterms

Tarek al-Salami, 7, sat in a diaper, looking fragile. Normally, the malnutrition and diarrhea that weakened her small frame would have been cured within a few days, but nothing is normal in Yemen anymore.

Tarek’s father transported him on foot from the southwestern town of Mokha as Iran-backed Houthi rebels arrived this month, bringing the civil war that embroiled Saudi Arabia and the United States last week to this Red Sea coastal city.

Al-Salami arrived at the hospital two days later in the government city of Aden, 270 kilometers away, but no beds were available. Like others, the establishment was overwhelmed by war wounded. His family finally found a therapeutic feeding center.

He arrived in an acute health crisis after treatment was delayed, according to the center’s director, Dr. Arwa Atef, and he did not start walking again until Wednesday, more than a week later.

“I swear to God, when I look at him, my heart breaks,” said his father, Mohammed al-Salami. “He looks almost lifeless.”

The already fragile health system in the Arab world’s poorest country is collapsing, caught in a new war front in Iran.

Some health centers are diverting pregnant women and others in need to focus on trauma patients. Vulnerable children fill incubators and share beds. Millions of people are affected by fighting backed by two of the Middle East’s biggest powers, as the Iran-backed Houthis advance against Saudi-backed government forces. More than 130,000 people have fled their homes, according to the International Organization for Migration.

“We are in a very dangerous situation,” said Fahd al-Nazari, director of the government health office in Taiz province, which has received most of the newly displaced people. “Within a day or two, or a week at most, we may have to close (some facilities). In fact, some hospitals are already closed.”

CBS/AP