Sanaa: Nearly 147,000 people were displaced in Yemen in September due to escalating fighting and deteriorating security conditions, according to a recent report by the Executive Unit for the Management of Displaced Persons Camps. The report documented the displacement of 21,583 families, totaling 146,943 individuals, between September 1 and 18. The displacement was recorded across eight provinces, including Taiz and Lahj in the southwest, Aden, Abyan, and Shabwa in the south, Al-Hudaydah in the west, and Hadhramout and Al Mahrah in the east.
According to Anadolu Agency, Taiz received the largest number of displaced individuals, with 11,534 families comprising 80,792 people spread across 15 districts. Lahj followed, with 5,472 families or 38,304 people displaced across nine districts. In Aden, 1,622 families, making up 7,162 individuals, were mostly hosted by local families in various districts. Al-Hudaydah saw the arrival of 1,471 families or 10,297 people, primarily in the districts of Hays and Al Khawkhah, while Abyan received 1,278 families totaling 8,946 people. Smaller numbers of displaced families were recorded in Hadhramout (110 families), Al Mahrah (70 families), and Shabwa (26 families).
The Executive Unit for the Management of Displaced Persons Camps has called on international and local organizations to provide urgent, life-saving assistance to those displaced, warning that any delays could worsen the crisis and increase pressure on host communities. The rise in displacement coincides with a broad military escalation along Yemen's western coast and in areas of Taiz province, where Houthi forces have advanced, seizing control of positions previously held by government forces. Fighting has resumed on several fronts, including Taiz, Marib, and Al Jawf in the north, and Al Bayda in central Yemen, marking the worst escalation since a UN-brokered truce in April 2022.
The conflict intensified in September, with Houthi forces capturing several strategic positions in Al-Hudaydah and Taiz provinces, including the strategic city of Mokha and extending as far as Mayun Island in the Bab al-Mandab Strait. Yemen has been embroiled in conflict since the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and several provinces in September 2014, prompting a Saudi-led coalition intervention in March 2015 in support of Yemen's internationally recognized government.