The capture of Western Yemen is making the country's humanitarian crisis worse
NPR speaks with people in Yemen and in aid groups who say the fighting is displacing families to areas without enough aid to support them.
DEBBIE ELLIOTT, HOST:
Aid groups say half of Yemen's population is in need of humanitarian assistance and that 18 million people are facing acute food insecurity after years of conflict.
asserted
people → make → conflict
But this month, things got worse.
asserted
things → get → ?
The Iran-backed Houthi rebels, already in control of Yemen's capital, managed to dislodge Saudi-backed forces from Western Yemen.
asserted
rebels → back → Yemen
This reignited hostilities and shattered a fragile truce.
asserted
This → reignite → truce
NPR's international correspondent Aya Batrawy is following the story from Dubai and reports on the deepening crisis unfolding in Western Yemen.
asserted
Batrawy → follow → Yemen
The U.N. World Food Programme says that in just a matter of days this month, 125,000 people were displaced in Yemen.
asserted
people → say → Yemen
And it says that number will likely rise as frontline fighting moves.
asserted
fighting → say → ?
It's a very dynamic, moving, massive scale of displacement.
asserted
It → move → displacement
Bottomley says the situation is dire, with roads difficult to navigate and not enough aid to reach everyone.
asserted
situation → say → everyone
Most of the camps are already full, so they're hoping to find space, or they move on, or they try to find someone in the local villages that will help them.
asserted
that → hop → them
But people are also sleeping under trees.
asserted
people → sleep → trees
Like, they're just waiting on the side of the road.
asserted
they → wait → road
Most of the people are displaced in Taiz.
asserted
Most → displace → Taiz
That's where some of the fiercest clashes are happening.
asserted
some → happen → clashes
That's the Red Sea shipping corridor where Iran-backed Houthis have attacked Saudi oil tankers.
asserted
Houthis → back → tankers
Aid groups say they're rushing to set up new displacement camps with water, food and mattresses in parts of the governorate of Taiz.
asserted
they → say → Taiz
Bottomley shared sound with NPR from one of those new displacement camps there.
asserted
Bottomley → share → camps
The Houthis captured parts of Taiz, including the port city of Mokha, so swiftly that Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces left their vehicles behind.
asserted
forces → capture → vehicles
And families didn't have time to grab their clothes as they fled shelling and gunfire.
asserted
they → have → shelling
But not everyone can leave.
asserted
everyone → leave → ?
There are pregnant women who need urgent care.
asserted
who → be → care
There are women who need cesarean sections.
asserted
who → be → sections
There are children who need treatment and patients with medical conditions who simply cannot wait.
asserted
who → be → conditions
She says most other health facilities in the city are no longer functioning.
asserted
facilities → say → city
The team that remains that the hospital is still there, working under very difficult circumstances and doing everything they can to keep these services going.
asserted
they → remain → services
The situation remains very uncertain and extremely stressful for everyone.
asserted
situation → remain → everyone
The World Health Organization says it can no longer transfer patients from Mokha to the government stronghold of Aden in the south and that the city of Taiz, quote, "must plan for isolation."
asserted
city → say → isolation
Many people can't leave Taiz.
asserted
people → leave → Taiz
The roads to Aden in the south are under missile fire, says Faisal al-Asali, who leads the human rights group the Protection of Freedoms of Taiz and is opposed to Houthi rule.
asserted
who → say → rule
And he says there are heavy strikes on Mokha ever since the Houthis took the city.
asserted
Houthis → say → city
The Saudi air force and the Yemeni government's army have been launching airstrikes on Mokha and elsewhere.
asserted
force → launch → Mokha
The U.N. says only 20% of its funding needs for Yemen have been met this year.
asserted
% → say → Yemen
We know how to respond to the needs.
asserted
We → know → needs
We're able to do it.
asserted
We → do → it
But we really lack the money, the funding that we need to do it at the scale that's required now.
asserted
that → lack → scale
And this is the sort of displacement - it doesn't resolve itself.
asserted
it → resolve → itself
Similarly, Mercy Corps, now known as Prosper Global, says more funding is urgently needed.
asserted
funding → know → Global
Of course, as you know, these families are arriving in host communities that are already very affected by the conflict that has been going on in Yemen for years.
asserted
that → know → years
So we need, of course, additional support for both the displaced and for the host communities.
asserted
we → need → communities
But unable to wait, the U.N. Refugee Council says more than 2,400 people have fled Yemen this past week alone, taking boats to Djibouti in the Horn of Africa.
asserted
people → wait → Africa
…and 4 more, not listed.
The Aporia
