More than 80,000 displaced as fighting escalates in Yemen
IN BRIEF
- Fighting between Houthi forces and the Saudi-aligned Yemen military intensified over the weekend.
- A UN agency warned the number of displaced people was “rising rapidly by the hour”.
Hundreds have been killed and tens of thousands displaced as rebel Houthi forces in Yemen advanced on key cities in country over the weekend.
In advances following a week-long offensive that left hundreds dead, the Houthis seized the Yemeni side of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, one of the world’s most important shipping arteries and the southern gateway to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, threatening Saudi oil exports diverted from the Strait of Hormuz.
On Sunday, the Houthis — also known as Ansar Allah (supporters of God) — claimed to have used drones and missiles to target Saudi Arabia, including a military base just over the border with Yemen.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree didn’t provide evidence or say when the attack occurred, according to the Associated Press.
Global charity Oxfam said escalations in Yemen pose a “dire threat” to an already struggling population after over a decade of civil war.
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“The humanitarian impact is already severe,” Yemen country director Ferran Puig said.
“Two thirds of the population in Yemen needs humanitarian assistance, and thousands are facing famine. Further military escalations will deepen hunger and displacement and disrupt the humanitarian assistance millions depend on to survive.”
The Houthis are targeting Saudi oil infrastructure and shipping as part of a recently declared blockade, but they have said that other countries’ shipping will not be targeted.
They now control the country’s entire Red Sea coastline after capturing the key port city of Mocha in Taiz province from Yemeni government forces on Friday.
Government forces still control parts of Taiz province, including its capital city of the same name, but fighting in the area continues.
Military sources said that government forces had again attacked Houthi positions in the Taiz area.
More than 500 Yemeni troops have been killed during clashes with the Houthis between 9 August and 10 September, the government-aligned National Resistance Forces said in reports carried by local media in Yemen. The National Resistance Forces claimed that Houthi losses during the same period were far higher.
An emerging humanitarian crisis
More than 950 violations against civilians have been documented across the western coast front lines following the Houthis’ entry into these cities, including more than 150 cases of killings, the Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms reported.
Residents have fled en masse towards Aden and the Lahj Governorate following the Houthis’ takeover of the cities of Mocha and Khokha, as well as al-Wazi’iyah.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that the escalation of fighting in Taiz, the western coast and other governorates had displaced more than 50,000 people.
Renewed fighting in Yemen has led more than 82,000 people to flee since the beginning of September. Houthi-owned television channel al-Masirah reported that Saudi Arabia had bombed targets to support Yemeni pro-government forces.
According to Houthi-controlled news agency Saba, the Iran-aligned rebels fired at weapons depots and command centres in Saudi Arabia.
The Houthis have been fighting Yemen’s Saudi-backed government for more than a decade. A 2022 truce left the conflict largely frozen but also with little prospect of an end to the war.
Fighting has flared up again amid the wider war involving Iran, plunging already impoverished Yemen — which borders Saudi Arabia and Oman — deeper into civil war.
The United Nations International Organisation for Migration (IOM) reported that the number of internally displaced people in Yemen has risen rapidly by 46,000 since fighting escalated last week, a figure that was “rising rapidly by the hour”.
“Families are being forced to flee for the second or third time in this conflict, with almost nothing left,” said Amy Pope, director general of the IOM. “As fighting spreads, reaching people with lifesaving assistance is becoming harder.”
More than 82,000 people have fled fighting since the beginning of September, with more than 2,000 people fleeing to Djibouti as the fighting has escalated.
Earlier UN estimates from 2021 said that more than 150,000 people had been killed in the fighting while another 220,000 had died as a result of indirect consequences of the war including hunger and disease.
About 22 million people in Yemen depend on humanitarian assistance.
The Houthis’ recent advance along the country’s western coast will allow the rebels to ramp up attacks and blockades on shipping launched amid resurging tensions with Saudi Arabia.
A Houthi spokesman said that shipping would remain safe, with the exception of Saudi vessels.
Gulf states meeting on Strait of Hormuz postponed
A planned meeting in Oman between Gulf states to discuss the Strait of Hormuz has been postponed, Omani foreign minister Badr Albusaidi said on X.
“In the interests of consensus the regional meeting set for tomorrow in Salalah has been postponed. We remain committed to fostering dialogue that supports stability and lasting cooperation in our region,” he said.
The meeting, scheduled for Monday, would have seen Gulf foreign ministers meet their Iranian counterpart Abbas Araqchi in Oman as part of an Omani-Iran-backed effort to secure a temporary arrangement for managing shipping through Hormuz.
When asked about the proposed meeting, United States President Donald Trump told reporters he didn’t care.
“I don’t care. That’s up to them,” Trump told reporters during a visit to Ireland.
— With reporting by the Reuters news agency.
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