Houthi Offensive in Yemen Sends More Than 3,400 Fleeing to Djibouti in 48 Hours

More than 3,400 people fleeing renewed fighting in Yemen landed along Djibouti’s northern coast, according to Djiboutian authorities, with the figure reported by Djibouti’s state news agency on Sunday and covering just 48 hours of arrivals.

“More than 3,400 people fleeing renewed fighting in Yemen have landed along Djibouti’s northern coast”

Al Jazeera

The crossings followed a Houthi offensive in which the group seized the Red Sea port of Mocha and advanced along the coast towards the narrow strait separating Yemen from Djibouti, while Djibouti’s Prime Minister Abdoulkader Kamil Mohamed traveled to Obock to meet officials from the UNHCR, the World Food Programme and the IOM.

Al Jazeera

Djibouti’s Finance Minister Ilyas Dawaleh documented the accelerating arrivals in posts on X, reporting about 500 people by September 11, 1,400 the following day and more than 2,000 by that evening.

Djiboutian authorities said they were preparing to receive as many as 10,000 people if the pace continued, as coastguard, navy, army and health services were deployed to rescue people stranded at sea and receive them ashore at sites including Obock and Khor Angar.

UNICEF said children making the crossing were exposed to extreme heat, dehydration and a lack of safe drinking water, while the IOM said fighting had driven residents out of entire districts in Yemen including Maqbanah and Jabal Habashi.

The UNHCR said the renewed Yemen conflict had displaced over 100,000 people internally, while thousands more fled by sea to Djibouti, and UNHCR warned that "Humanitarian access remains a major challenge."

In the same reporting, Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis were described as having stepped up attacks on Saudi cities and energy infrastructure while advancing along Yemen's Red Sea coast towards the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and the Saudi and Yemeni air forces were said to have bombarded Houthi targets.

Al-Jazirah Net

The International Organization for Migration said displacement in Yemen had reached 85,818 people as of September 13, up sharply in recent days, and it said over 2,000 people fleeing hostilities had reached Djibouti's northern shores so far.I

IOM also said Taiz remained the hardest hit with 9,280 households, or nearly 56,000 people, displaced from districts including Jabal Habashy, Al Ma'afer, Maqbanah, Mawza and Al Wazi'iyah.

IOM Director General Amy Pope said, "Behind every number is a family who's lost everything," adding that many were crossing the sea with nothing because they had no other choice left.

UNHCR warned that rapidly escalating hostilities along Yemen’s western coast had displaced more than 100,000 people inside the country and forced thousands more to seek safety across the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in Djibouti.

“"The response is already under pressure.”

USA for UNHCR

UNHCR said shelter, food, clean water, health care and protection services were among the most urgent needs as receiving communities and displacement sites became overstretched, and it added that humanitarian access remained a major challenge due to insecurity, damaged roads, telecommunications disruptions and movement restrictions.

UNHCR reported that over the past four days, more than 2,400 people made the sea crossing from Yemen to Djibouti, arriving mainly through Obock, Khor Angar, Moulhoule and Godoria, with more than 60 percent women, children and older people.

UNHCR Representative in Djibouti Sandrine Desamours said, "The response is already under pressure," and warned that they urgently needed more support before more families arrived and needs outpaced capacity.

UNHCR said Markazi only has room for around 5,000 more refugees while it was preparing for more than 10,000 arrivals, and it said it required an estimated $14 million to meet immediate needs for displaced families inside Yemen.