Yemen fighting intensifies as Houthis push towards Bab el-Mandeb Strait

Yemeni forces struck Houthi positions on the Red Sea coast as the rebels fired into Saudi Arabia. The renewed fighting has displaced thousands and raised fears of a wider regional conflict.

In Short

• UN says more than 82,000 people have been displaced since September
• Saudi border areas sounded sirens after projectiles injured two and damaged buildings
• Government-allied forces reported over 500 fighters killed on the west coast

The conflict in Yemen intensified on Sunday, with government forces launching attacks on Iran-backed Houthi rebels along the Red Sea and the Houthis firing into neighbouring Saudi Arabia, which supports Yemen's government. The Yemeni government also said it would send more forces to the Red Sea coast after losing the port city of Mokha and an island in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait last week.

As the poor country risks sliding into another civil war, the United Nations said more than 82,000 people have been displaced since the start of September. The latest fighting has also raised concern beyond Yemen, with the Houthis moving closer to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and displaced people fleeing across the water to Djibouti.

People fleeing the Houthi advance described scenes of panic and heavy shelling. A woman who fled from Khawkha in Hodeida province said a mortar shell fell nearby as she escaped in the middle of the night, shortly before the town was captured by the Houthis. "I saw with my own eyes cars and buses burning, and bodies of children and women were lying on the road in a horrific scene," she said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear for her family's safety.

Saudi authorities sounded sirens on Sunday afternoon in the southern city of Abha and in Khamis Mushait province, warning residents to take shelter from possible incoming fire. Both areas have been repeatedly attacked by the Houthis in recent weeks. The Houthis said they had used drones and missiles to target Saudi Arabia, including a military base just across the border with Yemen, though Houthi military spokesperson Brig Gen Yahya Saree gave no evidence and did not say when the attack took place.

Saudi civil defence said overnight that a projectile fell in an area near the border with Yemen along the Red Sea, injuring two people and damaging a mosque and several other buildings. It blamed the Houthis. Saudi Arabia did not announce any fresh attacks targeting the Houthis. The rebels have said they are targeting Saudi oil infrastructure and shipping as part of a newly declared blockade. While they have said they do not intend to threaten other countries' commercial shipping, markets remain cautious and oil prices have risen again.

The National Resistance, a force allied with Yemen's government that had controlled coastal areas, said more than 500 government fighters were killed on the west coast in the past four weeks, in its first overall toll from the latest fighting. It said around 1,500 others had been wounded since August 9. The force also claimed that more than 1,000 Houthis had been killed in Hodeida and Taiz provinces. A Houthi spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Yemen, home to more than 40 million people, is again facing the threat of a wider civil war after a conflict that had killed 150,000 people and pushed many others to the brink of famine. Yemen's internationally recognised government and Saudi Arabia have been fighting the Houthis for 12 years, though a ceasefire that began in 2022 had largely halted the violence. A senior Yemeni government official said government forces would return to the Red Sea coast and fight back. Sultan al-Arada, a member of the ruling presidential council, described the collapse of government forces in Mokha and other parts of the west coast as "painful and regrettable". In a televised interview aired late on Saturday, he said the forces "are currently regrouping and will return to the battle in one form or another".

On Sunday, the Yemeni military said it had launched airstrikes on Houthi positions in Mokha, the coastal town of Dhubab and elsewhere in Taiz province. The Houthis also reported strikes by Saudi-backed forces in the province and artillery shelling in Saada, their stronghold on Yemen's northern border with Saudi Arabia.

The Houthi advance has brought them to within 20 miles, or 32 kilometres, of the US military base in Djibouti on the other side of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The base is the main US base in Africa, and Djibouti also hosts bases from China, France and Japan. The small Horn of Africa nation is already receiving Yemenis making the dangerous sea crossing, with the International Organisation for Migration saying more than 2,000 Yemenis have reached Djibouti. Djibouti's Economy and Finance Minister Ilyas M. Dawaleh said on X that the country's navy, coast guard and other specialised agencies were carrying out rescue operations and providing emergency help.

The UN migration agency said the displaced in Yemen were in urgent need of help. "The displaced people are in a very bad condition," said Ahmad al-Masawi, head of the Al Salam camp in Aden. "They left their homes quickly without any clothing or anything. They are crammed in camps, houses and even on roads." At the camp, Hussein Haydara sat outside a shelter while his children waited for a tent. He said he was worried about how far the shelter was from schools, hospitals and markets, and how they would survive in the coming weeks or months. Haydara, who had already fled Hodeida once when the Houthis took over in 2015, said this time was harder: "With the first displacement, we had time to plan things, but this time we were forced to escape all of a sudden. One could hardly take their children and the lightest stuff possible." The latest fighting has brought fresh military losses, cross-border attacks and a growing displacement crisis, as Yemen braces for a deeper conflict.

With PTI Inputs

- Ends