Several thousand people boarded boats to escape gunfire, bombing, and a dire humanitarian situation in Yemen. A Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes targeting Houthi militia near Mocha, while fighting between Houthi rebels and government forces lasted for 12 hours in al-Wahijah.
The Houthi militia launched an offensive along Yemen’s Red Sea coast in early September, following a period in July where they fired drones and missiles towards Saudi Arabia. More than 900 people have been killed since the beginning of August, and at least 250,000 people have been forced out of their homes during the same period.
Over 100,000 people have sought refuge in Taiz governorate, where Houthi militia encircled the city and took control of routes in and out of the area. The United Nations claims more than half the population of Yemen needs humanitarian assistance.
Laila Al Amine, regional programmes director at the Prosper Global charity, said, "Ongoing fighting, insecurity and restrictions on movement are making it increasingly difficult to reach displaced communities and deliver assistance safely." Boat operators charged 100,000 Yemeni rials per family for the nine-hour journey from Yemen to Djibouti.
Abubaker Saeed boarded a boat with about 80 other people, stating, "I left everything behind." Madinah Abdullah fled the area because she was afraid Houthis would see her son, noting, "Life in Mocha was very good before the conflict, but Houthis disrupted everything."
Aisha Ismail fled without belongings because she had no men to protect her, saying, "We just ran away because we have no men to protect us. My father is an old man and he is now 85 years old and we have no brother or uncle. Out of fear, we just ran away without taking anything. We left everything behind. All our belongings." Yemen’s office for assistance to refugees and disaster victims reported that the number of new Yemeni arrivals in Djibouti reached 3,807 as of 8 October.
Mahdi Osman, coordinator at the agency, said, "The main challenge lies in the gap between the rapid pace of arrivals and the resources available to receive newly arrived refugees and meet their essential needs." The civil war erupted in 2014 when Houthis took control of Sana’a, and a ceasefire facilitated by the UN was established in 2022.
A missile attack by Houthi rebels on King Khalid International airport in Riyadh killed 13 people on 10 October.
