Aid agencies say Yemen is in dire need of assistance as the coronavirus threatens to decimate a health care system already ravaged by civil war.

Yemen has little capacity to test those suspected of having the virus and a 5-year-long civil war has left the health system in shambles.

Yemen is a uniquely dangerous place for the coronavirus to spread. Repeated bombings and ground fighting over five years of war have destroyed or closed more than half its health facilities.

In a statement carried by Saudi Arabia’s official state news agency, a Saudi military spokesman said that the ceasefire would last two weeks and that it comes in response to U.N. calls to halt hostilities amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Norwegian Refugee Council said it was unable to reach people in Syria, Yemen and the Gaza Strip, where authorities have imposed strict measures to halt the spread of the virus.

The Houthis’ obstruction has hindered several programs that feed the near-starving population.

The attack came hours after Yemeni rebels, known as Houthis, said they shot down a warplane of the Saudi-led coalition over the province of Jawf.

Al-Rimi was the leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and a deputy to al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Ballistic missiles smashed into a mosque in the training camp in the central province of Marib late Saturday, wounding 81 others during evening prayers.

The combat signalled a major escalation in the capital’s eastern suburbs after months of relative quiet.