Yemen fighting displaces 125,000 as Houthis push towards Red Sea chokepoint
More than 125,000 people have fled their homes in Yemen as Houthi rebels advanced down the Red Sea coast towards a key maritime chokepoint, in fighting linked to the wider Iran war. The offensive has threatened Saudi oil exports, pushed up global fuel prices and unsettled markets.
For Yemenis, the impact has been far more immediate. Families have fled with only what they could carry in a country that was pushed to the edge 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 worsened life in the expanding areas under rebel control, while Yemen's Saudi-backed government has struggled to push them back.
Eshraq Abdel Gelil and her husband, Mohamed Thabet, fled their home as the rebels closed in, walking through the mountains before finding a ride to a nearby city. Four months pregnant, she feared another miscarriage. The couple are now staying with relatives in the south-western city of Taiz, while others are sleeping on the streets or putting up makeshift plastic tents.
Thabet said the latest fighting was "extremely fierce" and more intense than a battle in 2017 that had also forced him to flee. "There was shelling and shrapnel near the house," he said. The couple walked 5 km before taking a vehicle for about 60 km along mountain roads. After reaching Taiz, a doctor told them the baby had moved lower in the womb. Abdel Gelil had miscarried at the same stage of a previous pregnancy. "My wife cried from the shock and was very fearful," Thabet said.
The family is now living in a crowded home with extended relatives and can afford to eat only twice a day. Thabet said he worries Abdel Gelil is not getting enough nutrition for herself and the baby. He is also concerned about his sister, who has not been able to afford diabetes medicine for more than a month. She and her two daughters, aged 8 and 13, have a blood condition that makes them vulnerable to anaemia, he said.
Yemen's civil war began in 2014, when the Houthis seized much of the north, including the capital, Sanaa. Saudi Arabia intervened the following year in support of Yemen's internationally recognised government, and a 2022 ceasefire had largely halted the fighting. Hostilities flared again in July when the Houthis resumed attacks on Saudi Arabia, which 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.
According to the UN humanitarian office, the recent fighting has killed eight civilians and wounded 32 others, while about 125,000 people have been displaced. UNICEF said 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." Achieng added: "The situation is particularly concerning because it comes on top of an already severe humanitarian crisis."
Even before the latest fighting, the UN had warned that about 5 million Yemenis were facing crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity. Milena Murr of Prosper Global, a humanitarian group previously known as Mercy Corps, said some people arriving in Taiz had walked for more than 16 hours and reached displacement camps exhausted and dehydrated, with some children appearing malnourished. Iman Abdullahi, country director for CARE, said there was an urgent need for food, maternal and newborn healthcare, hygiene supplies, private latrines and mental health support. "One woman had to wash her only clothes and remain inside her tent until they dried because she had nothing else to wear. Another was forced to flee just two weeks after giving birth," Abdullahi said.
Among those displaced, Nashwan Ahmed Said was stitching together a tent from plastic wheat sacks and said this was the third time he had been uprooted since the war began. "We are in such a state! We have no home, no toilet, no food and nothing to drink," he said. Arwa Ahmed, who fled with her five children, said the family had eaten only rice for days. "We need everything. We need tents, we need food and all the essentials, because we were displaced and took nothing with us," she said.
As the Houthis press ahead and Yemen's government struggles to respond, the renewed fighting is driving a fast-growing wave of displacement in a country already facing hunger, weak resources and deep humanitarian need.
