More than 100,000 flee fighting in Yemen: UN

Flaring fighting between government forces and Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen has displaced more than 100,000 people inside the country, while thousands more have fled abroad, the United Nations said Tuesday.

Tens of thousands have taken flight in the wake of a week-long Houthi offensive that culminated in the group capturing the remainder of Yemen's Red Sea coast and cementing their hold on the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait, which has become vital as the wider US-Iran war chokes the Strait of Hormuz.

The UN refugee agency warned in a statement that "rapidly escalating hostilities along Yemen's western coast have displaced more than 100,000 people inside the country and forced thousands more to seek safety" in Djibouti.

The fighting had uprooted families across a wide area, "raising concerns about further displacement inside Yemen and additional refugee movements if hostilities intensify", it said.

Already, the UNHCR said that more than 2,400 people had made the sea crossing from Yemen to Djibouti in the past four days alone, with women, children and the elderly making up more than 60 percent of those arriving.

"People are arriving after a difficult sea journey, many exhausted, distressed and carrying what little they could take with them," Sandrine Desamours, UNHCR's representative in Djibouti, said in the statement.

"The response is already under pressure. We urgently need more support before more families arrive."

Displaced families inside Yemen "fled at short notice with few belongings", UNHCR said, pointing to the urgent need for shelter, food, clean water, healthcare and protection services.

The agency also voiced concern over increased risks faced by more than 65,000 registered refugees and asylum-seekers inside Yemen, mainly from Somalia and Ethiopia.

Humanitarian access remains a major challenge, it said.

"Insecurity, damaged roads, telecommunications disruptions and movement restrictions are affecting operations," it said.

The escalation had raised broader concerns over the impact on global humanitarian logistics, which have already been strained by the ongoing disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz.

Continued insecurity around the Bab al-Mandeb Strait -- a critical maritime corridor linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden -- "could affect humanitarian and commercial shipping serving Yemen, Sudan and other ongoing emergencies in the region and beyond", UNHCR said.