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Over 2,000 people have arrived in Djibouti after fleeing intensified fighting between Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi fighters and Saudi-backed government forces, the United Nations revealed on Sunday.
The arrivals followed a week-long Houthi offensive that saw the group capture the remaining stretch of Yemen’s Red Sea coast and several strategic islands, strengthening its control of the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
On Thursday, the group took control of the Red Sea port city of Mocha, which lies along the key waterway for ships passing from Europe to Asia.
“More than 2,000 people fleeing hostilities in Yemen have arrived on Djibouti’s shores,” the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) wrote on Sunday.
The UN agency told AFP that the first arrivals landed on Thursday evening.
Djibouti’s Economy and Finance Minister Ilyas Moussa Dawaleh had estimated the number of arrivals at about 1,400 on Saturday.
Djibouti lies across the Bab al-Mandab Strait from Yemen, a strategic waterway that has become increasingly important for Saudi Arabian oil exports after Iran imposed a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz at the start of the wider Middle East war.
The Horn of Africa nation, with a population of about one million, is also a major transit point for migrants seeking to reach the wealthier Gulf states.
The UN said at least 76,000 people have been displaced within Yemen by the fighting since July, with the number quadrupling over the past week following the Houthi offensive.
Djibouti also hosts military bases operated by the United States, China, Japan, France and Italy because of its strategic location near the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
