THIS is a dangerous moment for the Middle East. Saudi-led forces have launched a new offensive on the Yemeni port of Hodeida. This is the country’s main port and the entry point for most of the country’s trade and for international aid.

The three-year war has already been devastating. This offensive could lead to the worst humanitarian disaster anywhere in the world since the second world war.

This is why Stop the War is organising a tour of public meetings and events publicising the crisis and building the widest possible campaign to end arms sales to Saudi and stop the war on Yemen.

Last month, a UN report outlined the gravity of the situation. Already, an astonishing 75 per cent of the population, 22 million people, need humanitarian assistance and protection. The percentage of the population in poverty has shot up from 49 per cent last year to 79 per cent now, as 8.4 million people don’t know where their next meal is coming from.

If an attack forces the port at Hodeida to close, there will be carnage. The UN suggests as many as 13 million people may die as a direct result.

As well as causing almost unimaginable suffering, it will destabilise the whole area by creating new flows of migration and ratcheting up tension between the region’s big powers.