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Tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes since fighting escalated in Yemen last week, the United Nations said Friday, with the number more than doubling in a matter of days.
The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, who have for years controlled large parts of northern Yemen, launched a large-scale offensive last week against Saudi-backed government forces, scoring one victory after another in fighting that has left hundreds dead.
Since the fighting escalated, “at least 46,000 people have been displaced,” the International Organization for Migration said in a statement, warning that “the number is alarmingly rising by the hour.”
On Tuesday, the U.N. agency had put the number at around 18,500.
The announcement came after the Houthis seized control of the strategic Red Sea port city of Mokha on Thursday, according to sources speaking to the AFP, Associated Press and Reuters news agencies, before seizing a key island in the middle of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Friday.
Saudi Arabia responded with dozens of airstrikes, with the latest two hitting the Mokha airport, Houthi media reported on Friday.
The displacements had happened across the west coast and Taiz areas, the IOM said, also pointing to reports of large numbers of people seen leaving Mokha with their belongings overnight to Friday.
The agency said people also seemed to be moving north.
“Entire villages are reported to have emptied” to the west of Taiz, it said, adding that the Mokha-Taiz road, a key supply route, had reportedly been cut.
IOM chief Amy Pope warned that “as fighting spreads, reaching people with lifesaving assistance is becoming harder.”
“We urgently need safe, unimpeded access,” she said in the statement.
“All parties must protect civilians and humanitarian workers, and safeguard the supplies, vehicles and facilities we depend on to deliver help.”
CBS/AFP
