AMMAN, JORDAN — 

The first commercial flight in nearly six years took off from Yemen’s Sanaa airport for the Jordanian capital, Amman, on Monday, carrying hospital patients needing treatment abroad. Observers say the airport's reopening is a major step forward in a fragile peace process in the conflict which has been grinding on for the past seven years.

The United Nations says the conflict in Yemen, pitting a Saudi-led coalition supporting the government against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, has created a humanitarian catastrophe in the impoverished nation at the tip of the Arabian Peninsula. More than 23 million Yemenis across the country need humanitarian help. The war has also threatened security in the Persian Gulf.

The resumption of flights from Sanaa's airport, which is held by the Houthi rebels, is part of an U.N.-brokered two-month cease-fire that went into effect in early April. The airport had been closed to commercial traffic since August of 2016.