Houthi Attacks Threaten Saudi Oil Exports As 125,000 Yemenis Flee Red Sea Fighting

More than 125,000 people have fled their homes in Yemen as Houthi forces advance along the Red Sea coast towards a key maritime chokepoint, leaving families without adequate shelter, food and healthcare amid renewed fighting.

The offensive by the Iran-backed rebels has also threatened Saudi oil exports, pushed up global fuel prices and rattled markets. For civilians in the areas affected by the fighting, however, the immediate consequences have been displacement, disrupted access to basic necessities and renewed fears of a wider humanitarian crisis in a country already devastated by years of war.

Among those forced to flee are Eshraq Abdel Gelil and her husband, Mohamed Thabet. According to Associated Press, the couple left their home as Houthi forces closed in. Abdel Gelil was four months pregnant and feared another miscarriage after losing a previous pregnancy at the same stage.

The couple walked for five kilometres through the mountains before finding a vehicle that took them about 60 kilometres to the southwestern city of Taiz.

Displaced families arrive in Taiz

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.

Abdel Gelil and Thabet are now sheltering with extended family in Taiz. Other displaced people are sleeping in the streets or putting together makeshift tents from plastic.

After the couple reached Taiz, a doctor told Abdel Gelil that the baby had moved lower in the womb. She had suffered a miscarriage during a previous pregnancy at the same point.

“My wife cried from the shock and was very fearful,” Thabet said.

The family is now crowded into a home with relatives. They can afford to eat only twice a day and are concerned that Abdel Gelil is not getting enough nutrients for herself and the baby.

Thabet is also worried about his sister, who has been unable to afford diabetes medication for more than a month. She and her daughters, aged eight and 13, have a blood condition that makes them susceptible to anaemia, he said.

Associated Press reported that the renewed fighting comes amid the unresolved Iran war and follows years of conflict in Yemen.

Renewed fighting follows years of conflict

Yemen’s civil war began in 2014, when the Houthis seized large parts 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, although it did not resolve the conflict.

Hostilities resumed in July when the Houthis renewed attacks on Saudi Arabia, saying the offensive was aimed at lifting the blockade. The attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry came as the US was having some success in reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Yemen’s Saudi-backed government remains weak and fragmented and has struggled to push the Houthis back.

A Saudi-led blockade, along with the Houthis’ repressive rule and detention of UN and aid workers, has added to the difficulties faced by civilians in the expanding territory under rebel control.

An earlier phase of the civil war pushed Yemen to the brink of famine and killed an estimated 150,000 people.

The UN humanitarian office says eight civilians have been killed and another 32 wounded in the latest fighting. It estimates that about 125,000 people have fled their homes.

UNICEF, the UN children’s agency, says more than 57,000 children are among those displaced.

“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.

Aid groups struggle to meet basic needs

The latest displacement comes as Yemen was already facing widespread food insecurity. Before the renewed fighting, the UN had warned that around five million Yemenis were experiencing “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. They reached displacement camps exhausted and dehydrated, while some children appeared malnourished.

Iman Abdullahi, country director for CARE, said displaced families urgently need 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,” he said.

For some families, shelter has meant constructing tents from whatever materials are available. Nashwan Ahmed Said was stitching together a tent made from plastic wheat sacks. He said this was the third time he had been displaced 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 was displaced with her five children, said she and her family had eaten nothing but 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.