Salama Saeed and her son fled for their lives when shelling and gunfire from Yemen’s Houthi rebels engulfed their village, forcing her to leave other children behind.
They are among the nearly 20,000 people driven from their homes since the Iranian-backed rebels launched a broad offensive in areas near the Red Sea last week, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Choking back tears as she shelters in a rudimentary hut of wood and straw, the mother describes her anguish for her four adult children who were trapped by the fighting.
“I fled on my own, terrified, on one of my sons’ motorcycles. We have nothing left,” said the woman in her fifties from the Muthalath al-Udain area of Hodeida province.
“We were forced to leave because of the Houthis,” she told the AFP news agency, adding: “My children are still there — they couldn’t get out. I weep for them every day, waiting for them to escape.”
Yemen’s long-running conflict has flared into life after a four-year truce unravelled in July, as regional tensions rocketed during the Iran war.
The Houthis are trying to seize territory along the Red Sea, where they have been attacking Saudi tankers. Meanwhile, a wave of Houthi attacks on Tuesday set Saudi oil sites ablaze and wounded dozens of people. On Wednesday, the rebels reported more than 40 Saudi reprisal strikes.
Saeed and her son found refuge in a camp for the displaced in Khokha on the Red Sea coast, about 19 miles from their village.
“There’s no aid. We’re exhausted,” she said. “Who will give us aid? Every time we’re displaced from one place, war comes and forces us to leave again! Where can we go? We’re tired of this situation.”
