This week the war in Yemen enters its fourth year. What makes this conflict so heartbreaking is its cruelty, the warring factions deliberately targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure. Some 22 million people, are in need of immediate humanitarian assistance.

Read stories from around the world of refugees assisted by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund and the International Rescue Committee.

The IRC and Sesame Workshop have won $100 million in the MacArthur 100andChange competition to deliver the largest transformative early learning program for more than nine million refugee children in the Middle East.

A Yazidi family from Iraq, one of the many ethnic minorities persecuted by ISIS, was preparing for a joyful reunion in the land of the free when things changed. Here is their story.