CAIRO, SEP 17 (AP): As Houthi rebels closed in, Eshraq Abdel Gelil and her husband fled their home, walking through the mountains before catching a ride to a nearby city. Four months pregnant, she feared another miscarriage.
They are among more than 125,000 people who have fled as the Iran-backed rebels have advanced down the Red Sea coast to a key maritime chokepoint. The offensive, linked to the wider Iran war, has threatened Saudi oil exports, pushed up global fuel prices and rattled markets.
The cost has been far greater for Yemenis caught in the crossfire. Many have fled their homes with only what they could carry. The Arab world’s poorest country was pushed to the brink of famine in an earlier phase of the civil war, which killed an estimated 150,000 people. A Saudi-led blockade, along with the Houthis’ repressive rule and detention of UN and aid workers, has made life miserable in the now-expanding territory under rebel control. Yemen’s Saudi-backed government, weak and fragmented, has struggled to push them back.
The renewed fighting is linked to the unresolved Iran war: The civil war dates back to 2014, when the Houthis seized much of northern Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa. Saudi Arabia intervened the following year in support of Yemen’s internationally recognised government. A 2022 ceasefire largely halted the fighting. Hostilities erupted again in July, when the Houthis renewed attacks on Saudi Arabia in what the rebels said was an attempt to lift the blockade. The attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry came as the US was having some success in reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
The fighting in Yemen has killed eight civilians and wounded another 32, according to the UN humanitarian office, which says an estimated 125,000 people have fled their homes. The UN children’s agency, known as UNICEF, says the displaced include more than 57,000 children.
“This is one of the most fast-moving and volatile displacement waves Yemen has seen in years,” said Obia Achieng, a UNICEF representative in Yemen.
“Families are fleeing with little or no warning, often at night, carrying only what they can grab.”
“The situation is particularly concerning because it comes on top of an already severe humanitarian crisis,” Achieng added.
