UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations appealed for $2.7 billion on Thursday to pay for humanitarian aid operations this year in war-torn Yemen, where most of the 18 million people in need live in the north of the country ruled by the Iran-aligned Houthi group. Peter Hawkins, the acting U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, described the amount of money the U.N. was seeking as more realistic than the $4.3 billion it asked for last year. He stressed that Yemen should not be forgotten as the world deals with multiple humanitarian crises. Hawkins also said he was hoping a U.S. decision in January to return the Houthis to a list of terrorist groups would not affect aid operations in Yemen. Yemen has been mired in conflict since Houthis ousted the government from the capital Sanaa in late 2014.

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Persons: Peter Hawkins, Hawkins, stoked, Washington, Houthis, Michelle Nichols, Alistair Bell Organizations: UNITED NATIONS, Reuters, United Nations, The U.S Locations: Yemen, Iran, Israel, Gaza, The, Saudi Arabia