Taiz, Yemen – In mid-September, Mohammed started hearing the sound of shelling and gunfire in the distance from his village in the Jabal Habashi district of Taiz. By the following day, the fighting had intensified, and the sounds were drawing closer. After four years of calm, Yemen’s return to violence had arrived at Jabal Habashi, where the Houthi rebels are attempting to advance in government-held areas.
The fighting has left civilians, like the 39-year-old Mohammed, afraid of moving around their homes and farms. Mohammed soon fled his village with his wife and child, heading to the city of Taiz. But Taiz, one of Yemen’s largest cities, is itself under threat from the Houthis, having sat on the front lines between the Yemeni government and the Houthis for the majority of the country’s 12-year war.
Mohammed has at least found shelter with one of his relatives, but thousands of others arriving in Taiz from the countryside are now staying in displacement camps. I cannot stand life in crowded camps lacking access to food, healthcare and sanitation,” Mohammed told Al Jazeera. Mohammed is part of a wave of displacement in Taiz and other conflict-affected parts of Yemen, increasing pressure on already overstretched humanitarian services.
The wave began when the Houthis made a rapid advance in September, taking over the entire Red Sea coast of Yemen and tightening their grip on the Bab al-Mandeb strait, a vital international shipping route. With roads and port operations affected by war, providing aid for the thousands of Yemenis living in the makeshift displacement camps has now become a pressing concern for the government and humanitarian groups. Internal displacement from the most recent bout of fighting could swell to more than 230,000, the United Nations said on September 22, on top of the more than 5.2 million people who were already internally displaced in Yemen.
Mohammed Radman, a displacement coordinator with the Executive Unit for IDP Camp Management in Jabal Habashi district, has visited several of the displacement camps over the past few days. Today, he is in Taiz city, but he wants to go back to his home to get the possessions he left behind. Now, I am not sure I would be able to return safely.
This reality makes it difficult for us to return to our areas,” Abdulrahman told Al Jazeera. UNHCR in Yemen said last week that humanitarian operations in the country face severe constraints. The United Nations body cited several factors that limit and slow the delivery of life-saving aid, including active front lines, movement restrictions, telecommunications disruptions, and damaged roads and infrastructure.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
