Story by Clarissa Ward and Salma Abdelaziz @ CNN.com; Photographs by Giles Clarke for UN/OCHA, June 22

[....] Yemen is in the grip of a vicious cholera outbreak and a near famine that have coincided to create one of the worst humanitarian crises on the planet.

But you won't find the story splashed on front pages and leading news bulletins around the globe -- Yemen's grinding two-and-a-half-year civil conflict, between Houthi militants and a Saudi Arabian-led coalition of Arab states that support the former Hadi government, is often called "the silent war" because it receives relatively little attention in the media.

Yet that's not for want of trying: for the past two months CNN and dozens of other journalists have been actively pushing to gain access to the hardest-hit parts of the country.

The only way to get into these areas is on humanitarian aid flights, primarily run by the UN. Based on conversations with multiple sources, CNN has found that the Hadi government of Yemen and its Saudi Arabian-led backers are actively seeking to block journalists and human rights organizations from flying in on aid flights

A UN humanitarian worker, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed this with CNN: "The people who can let journalists into the country aren't letting them in -- that is the Yemeni government and their Saudi-led coalition backers."

Sources tell CNN the UN fears allowing journalists onto aid planes could lead to a complete block by Saudi authorities of their future flights into Sana'a.

Houthi forces have also reportedly sought to block access to news outlets and have been accused of arresting journalists randomly [....]