Nearly 86,000 flee fighting in Yemen: UN
A major Houthi offensive in Yemen has displaced nearly 86,000 people, with thousands fleeing across the Bab al-Mandab Strait to Djibouti. The United Nations and the International Organization for Migration are providing aid as the humanitarian crisis intensifies.
Why it matters
The displacement highlights the escalating humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen and the strategic instability of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a critical global shipping artery.
Flaring fighting between government forces and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen has displaced nearly 86,000 people, the United Nations said Sunday, with the number surging by 10,000 from a day earlier.
Tens of thousands have taken flight in the wake of a week-long Houthi offensive that culminated in the group capturing the remainder of Yemen's Red Sea coast and several strategic islands, cementing their hold on the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait .
"Displacement in Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country, has now reached 85,818 people," the International Organization for Migration said in a statement, a day after putting the number of people displaced since July at 76,000.
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