Houthi Escalation in Marib Threatens 400,000 Displaced People

The United Nations has renewed its warnings about the humanitarian disaster created by the Houthi militias’ escalation of hostilities in Yemen’s western Marib.

Its Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said nearly 400,000 of those residing in displacement camps could flee again to neighboring governorates as the fighting continues.

According to the monthly report on the humanitarian situation there, with continued fighting, more civilians are expected to continue to flee towards the eastern outskirts of Sirwah and into Marib City.

It pointed out that the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) sites are already “crowded and response capacities are overstretched.”

“Should hostilities move towards the city and surrounding areas, 385,000 people could be displaced to the suburbs of Marib City and to areas in Hadramout governorate.”

Marib already hosts an estimated one million in 125 IDP sites, it said. Sirwah District hosts around 30,000 displaced people in at least 14 displacement sites.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said some displaced people have fled for the third time and many people carried their shelters with them to the new camps.

According to the UN report, the total number of civilian casualties and displaced people is still undetermined due to the ongoing fighting in the affected areas.

The actual number of displaced families is much higher than the announced figures, it stressed, noting that most of the displaced families fled to safer areas in Sirwah, Marib al-Wadi and Marib city.

As humanitarian partners continue to expand the scope of assessment and contingency planning, they ensured scaling up the response to accessible IDP sites and identified shelters, non-food items, food, water and sanitation, health and protection assistance as urgent needs.

Some 25 humanitarian agencies are operating, including seven UN agencies, six international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and 12 Yemeni NGOs, all of which have provided aid for almost 11,000 IDPs.