By the end of this year, some 233,000 people will have died in Yemen as a result of the Saudi-led war there, including 140,000 children under the age of 5. That grim projection is contained in a U.N.-commissioned study by the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, which we are featuring below as our document of the week.

The data compiled in the report underscores the disintegration of a country that was already among the world’s poorest before the war began in March 2015. Saudi Arabia intervened that month to crush a rebellion by Shiite Houthi separatists. The ensuing war touched off one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. The United States has provided military support to the Saudi-led coalition, including the refueling of Saudi planes on bombing runs.

The study projects that Yemen will have lost $89 billion in economic output by the end of this year. If the war continues through 2022, 482,000 people are estimated to die. If it lasts until 2030, the death toll will rise to an estimated 1.8 million, including 1.5 million children under 5.

The devastating human toll in Yemen prompted both houses of Congress to vote to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition. But President Donald Trump vetoed the decision, describing the bill as an “unnecessary, dangerous attempt to weaken my constitutional authorities.”

AFP.