‘Need a Plan B’: Yemenis in Aden prepare for another war as missiles fall
For Mohammed Abdul Malik, the powerful explosions that have hit Yemen’s southern city of Aden repeatedly over the past month are an ominous warning of darker days ahead.
Yemen’s Houthis have claimed attacks against several locations in Aden, including the international airport, military camps, the city’s port, and the presidential palace – which serves as a base for Yemen’s government.
Fearing that the city could once again descend into widespread violence, Abdul Malik has begun taking precautions. He has stockpiled food and prepared his car for a long journey if he needs to leave.
“I’ll tell you about myself and my close friends: We’ve started buying and stockpiling basic provisions, like sugar and other staples,” Abdul Malik told Al Jazeera.
If the security situation deteriorates further and state institutions collapse, his Plan B is to flee Aden with his family and seek refuge in Shabwa, to the northeast, or Hadramout, to the east.
“We’ve mapped out an exit route from the city. I’ve prepared my car, checked it over, and set aside an emergency supply of fuel. I’m ready to pack up my family and head out at a moment’s notice,” he said.
After four years of relative calm, Yemen’s war has reignited in recent months, particularly since early September, when the Houthis launched a major offensive to seize government-held areas in the west of the country from the Saudi-backed, pro-government National Resistance Forces (NRF).
Within a week, the Iran-backed armed group – also known as Ansar Allah, Arabic for Supporters of God – had seized districts in Hodeidah and Taiz provinces, including the port city of Mocha, a stronghold of the NRF, and the strategic Bab al-Mandeb strait.
A government counteroffensive launched in early October has made limited gains along the Red Sea coast, but at the same time the Houthis have tightened their siege of Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, after capturing a vital road linking it to Aden.
Aden had remained relatively peaceful despite the fierce fighting elsewhere, and had become a refuge for thousands of people displaced by the conflict.
The wave of Houthi missile and drone attacks this month has shattered that calm, and has raised fears that the Houthis may be seeking to capture Aden.
Accounts from friends who fled Taiz, where fighting and the siege have driven up prices and disrupted supplies, have deepened his concerns about what could happen to his city.
“Prices in Taiz have already doubled, and the same could easily happen in Aden. If the [Aden] port were to be struck, prices would skyrocket,” he said.
“At work, my colleagues and I talk about what we should buy, what food we ought to store, what our contingency plan is, and where we would go if we had to leave,” he added.
Abdul Malik described how the Houthi attacks have disrupted daily life in Aden, with some families limiting their movements – especially at night.
“When the [first missile] explosion occurred, one of my colleagues went to the school to pick up her son and found the students frightened and gathered together in one place. We go to work and take our children to school, but there is a sense of anxiety and tension,” he told Al Jazeera.
Aden international airport, currently Yemen’s busiest airport, has borne the brunt of the Houthi missile and drone attacks, which have repeatedly disrupted air travel, forcing airlines to cancel or delay flights and divert others to airports elsewhere in Yemen or abroad.
For residents living near the airport, the repeated strikes and explosions have taken a psychological toll on families, prompting some to consider moving to safer areas inside and outside Aden. Ahmed Awadh, a resident of Aden’s Khor Maksar district, near the airport, said the attacks have left children struggling with fear and anxiety.
“An explosion jolts the children awake in terror, leaving them unable to sleep for the rest of the night. Even the sound of an ordinary airplane now strikes fear into my family,” Awadh told Al Jazeera.
He said the attacks have disrupted schools and businesses, prompting families to rush home and some parents to keep their children away from school. Some families have sent vulnerable relatives, including children and elderly people, to neighbouring Lahj and Abyan provinces or other districts of Aden. Others have rented homes further away from the airport.
Awadh, who lives with 10 other family members, said they have taken precautions by keeping children away from windows during attacks. He and his neighbours have also created a WhatsApp group to check on one another after each explosion.
“The [Aden] airport, which serves the civilian population, as well as other civilian infrastructure and residential areas, must not be targeted,” Awadh said.
Aden, Yemen’s second-most important city after the Houthi-held capital, Sanaa, suffered extensive destruction in early 2015 during fierce fighting between the Houthis and their opponents, as well as air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition.
Even after the Houthis were driven out, the city continued to experience sporadic clashes between rival anti-Houthi factions, which sometimes turned their weapons on each other.
Adeeb al-Shatri, a professor of journalism at Aden and Hadramout universities, said the latest wave of Houthi missile attacks had compounded the suffering of a city already plagued by lawlessness and insecurity.
He questioned why Yemen’s internationally recognised government had left Aden, its temporary capital and seat of government, vulnerable to Houthi attacks without adequate air defences to intercept missiles and drones.
“Aden is currently the capital, housing both major and minor state institutions. Therefore, the legitimate government must protect it,” al-Shatri told Al Jazeera.
The Yemeni military has claimed to have air defence forces in Aden, with reports of drone interceptions before they reached civilian areas.
Yemen’s Information Minister, Moammar al-Eryani, did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on criticism that air defence systems have been inadequate in protecting Aden.
Al-Shatri argued that only a small proportion of Aden’s wealthier residents could afford to stockpile food and other essential supplies in preparation for an emergency. Most residents, he said, were already struggling to feed their families.
“In Europe and other stable Arab countries, people stockpile food during crises, but in Aden, people need three times their current salaries just to live a simple life,” he said.
Al-Shatri also challenged the notion that Houthi attacks had brought businesses and education in Aden to a complete standstill.
“People’s movement in the city returned to normal just an hour after the explosion because they have to keep moving to earn money and secure their daily bread,” he said. “If work were to stop, it would lead to a financial crisis, and they would be unable to provide food for themselves.”
