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Escalating fighting between government forces and Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen has displaced more than 100,000 people inside the country, while thousands more have sought refuge abroad, the United Nations said Tuesday.
Tens of thousands have fled following a week-longHouthi offensive that culminated in the group capturing the remainder of Yemen's Red Sea coast and tightening their grip on the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which has become vital as the wider U.S.-Iran war chokes the Strait of Hormuz.
The U.N. refugee agency warned in a statement that "rapidly escalating hostilities along Yemen's western coast have displaced more than 100,000 people inside the country and forced thousands more to seek safety" in Djibouti.
The fighting had uprooted families across a wide area, "raising concerns about further displacement inside Yemen and additional refugee movements if hostilities intensify," it said.
UNHCR reported that more than 2,400 people had already made the sea crossing from Yemen to Djibouti in the past four days alone, with women, children and the elderly accounting for more than 60% of those arriving.
"People are arriving after a difficult sea journey, many exhausted, distressed and carrying what little they could take with them," Sandrine Desamours, UNHCR's representative in Djibouti, said in the statement.
"The response is already under pressure. We urgently need more support before more families arrive."
Displaced families inside Yemen "fled at short notice with few belongings," according to UNHCR, pointing to the urgent need for shelter, food, clean water, healthcare and protection services.
The agency also raised concern over growing risks faced by more than 65,000 registered refugees and asylum-seekers inside Yemen, mainly from Somalia and Ethiopia. Humanitarian access remains a major challenge, it said.
"Insecurity, damaged roads, telecommunications disruptions and movement restrictions are affecting operations," it said.
The escalation had raised broader concerns over the impact on global humanitarian logistics, already strained by ongoing disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz.
Persistent insecurity around the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, a critical maritime corridor linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, "could affect humanitarian and commercial shipping serving Yemen, Sudan and other ongoing emergencies in the region and beyond", UNHCR said.
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