DJIBOUTI — More than 2,000 people fleeing hostilities in Yemen have arrived on Djibouti’s shores this week, the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration said Sunday, RTE reported, citing IOM and AFP.
The first arrivals landed Thursday evening as Iran-backed Houthi forces pressed a week-long offensive that captured Mocha and strategic islands along Yemen’s Red Sea coast, cementing control near the Bab al-Mandab Strait. Djibouti’s economy minister had put the figure at about 1,400 people on Saturday.
According to the UN, at least 76,000 people have been displaced in Yemen by fighting since July, with that number quadrupling in the last week amid the Houthi advance. Djibouti, opposite Yemen across the strait, is also a transit point for migrants seeking work in Gulf states.
The small Horn of Africa state hosts military bases from the United States, China, Japan, France, and Italy overlooking the Bab al-Mandab, which has become a critical oil route after Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Sources: RTE (IOM/AFP)
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