Photo credit: Reuters
More than 200,000 people have been displaced across Yemen as fighting between Houthi rebels and Saudi-backed government forces has intensified in recent weeks, the United Nations migration agency says.
CBC News reports that the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Wednesday that the speed of the displacement was “alarming,” with at least 201,217 people now forced out of their homes – up from 76,000 in mid-September.
A years-long civil war reignited in July when Yemen’s internationally recognized government said it bombed the airport in the capital, Sanaa, which is under the control of the Iran-aligned Houthis, to prevent an Iranian plane carrying Houthi officials from landing.
The fighting escalated dramatically last month when the Houthis seized the country’s entire Red Sea coast from government forces, which this week launched a counter-offensive with the support of a Saudi-led coalition, aiming to keep the Bab el-Mandeb Strait open to shipping.
