Yemen displacement tops 76,000 as Houthi coastal offensive sends 1,400 fleeing to Djibouti - report
The surge follows the Houthis' rapid seizure of the Red Sea coastline, including the strategic port city of Mocha, prompting a wave of refugees to flee across the Bab al-Mandeb Strait to Djibouti
About 1,400 people have fled Yemen for Djibouti due to fighting between government forces and Iran-allied Houthis, Djibouti's minister of economy and finance, Ilyas Moussa Dawaleh, said Saturday. In a post on X, Dawaleh wrote that "1400 refugees arrived in Djibouti from Yemen in just 24 hours."
The Houthis, who control large parts of northern Yemen including Sanaa and Hodeida, have advanced rapidly along the coast in recent days, seizing the port city of Mocha on Thursday and tightening their grip Friday on the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, a vital corridor for global shipping through the Suez Canal.
The news of people leaving for Djibouti comes as the International Organization for Migration said Friday that at least 76,000 people have been displaced in Yemen since July, up from 46,000 just days earlier and nearly quadruple last week's total. The IOM is calling the crisis "a rapidly worsening displacement crisis unfolding by the hour."
Taiz has been hardest hit, with roughly 50,000 people displaced from districts including Jabal Habashy, Al Ma'afer, Maqbanah, Mawza, and Al Wazi'iyah, followed by Lahj with nearly 17,000 people displaced, mostly from Al-Mudharibah district. IOM Director General Amy Pope said families are being displaced for the second or third time in the conflict "with almost nothing left."
Pope is calling for safe, unimpeded humanitarian access, urging all parties to protect civilians, aid workers, and the supplies and facilities IOM relies on. The agency said communications remain disrupted and roads increasingly inaccessible, complicating aid delivery, and warned displacement figures are expected to keep rising.
The escalation comes amid a broader flare-up of regional violence. An Iranian commercial vessel was struck off Qeshm Island early Sunday, killing one person and wounding three others, Iranian state media reported, citing the Qeshm County governor. Separately, Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said the group targeted weapons depots and command-and-control facilities at a Saudi military base in the Sharurah region with a large salvo of ballistic missiles and drones, calling the strikes "precise and direct."
Saree said the attack was in response to continued Saudi military action against Yemen and warned that future Houthi operations would be "more intense and larger," reaching deeper into Saudi territory.