Inside Yemen: Al Hudaydah latest and IDPs

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04:18

The battle for the strategic port city of Al Hudaydah is intensifying.

According to local media, on Friday, Yemen's Houthi movement, backed by Iran, shelled a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the area, killing one person.

This followed an airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition, in support of the Yemeni government, on a residential building belonging to a prominent Houthi tribal chief.

The battle for Al Hudaydah intensifies. /CGTN Photo

Fierce fighting in Hudaydah last week killed at least 27 on both sides in one day.

More than 70 percent of imports and humanitarian aid was entering the country through this Red Sea port, making it a lifeline for more than 20 million Yemenis who rely on outside aid to survive and a flashpoint of control for both warring sides.

Hudaydah is Yemen's fourth-largest city and home to roughly 600,000 people, but earlier this year, the coalition launched an attack against the Houthis who control the area, forcing thousands to flee their homes.

Tents, mud huts, and empty brick shells are home to many escaping the frontlines. /CGTN Photo

Tents, mud huts, and empty brick shells are now home to many escaping the frontlines.

On the outskirts of Aden, Aicha Ali and her six children live day by day. The family, along with her husband, fled Hudaydah two months ago, leaving everything behind.

"We even left our cattle," she said. "We had no time to take anything but ourselves. We left at 8 a.m. and we walked and walked. At 2 p.m. we were still walking. We reached Aden at midnight."

Aicha Ali with her six children, on the outskirts of Aden. /CGTN Photo

Nearby, Ismail Ali Abdallah and his extended family also from Hudaydah found refuge in an empty concrete shell. He told CGTN "We decided to leave because of fear. The strikes were so strong and we were frightened so we decided to walk. We left at 5 a.m., just after sunrise. The airplanes were dropping bombs. There were clashes and the children were very scared."

Both families have limited access to food and healthcare. Aicha fears her 10-month-old child has cholera but has no money to get her to the hospital.

Ismail Ali Abdallah and his extended family also from Hudaydah found refuge in an empty concrete shell. /CGTN Photo

According to the Abdallah family, they had enrolled their oldest in a school when they arrived in this temporary location outside of Aden, but the school was destroyed in fighting shortly before she was supposed to start.

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According to the United Nations (UN), more than 3 million people have been internally displaced across Yemen since the war broke out in 2015. Thousands of others, with money, have fled abroad.

In a completely bombed out house in the south of Aden, Abdallah sits, day in and day out, chewing khat, a popular flowery plant that acts as a stimulant when chewed.

Aicha fears her 10-month-old child has cholera but has no money to get her to the hospital. /CGTN Photo

He was displaced from the governorate of Abyan by one of the many terrorist organizations operating in Yemen's power vacuum but says he is angry at the Saudi-led coalition for the downward spiral his country is taking.

"We blame the coalition more than the government," he said, "Because the government and ourselves are under the mercy of the coalition. So the coalition should evaluate the situation and help the government to help the citizens."

Anger towards the coalition, which was once loved by many, is now growing across the south as the country's economy and the humanitarian situation deteriorates.

Martin Griffiths, the UN's special envoy to Yemen hopes to resume consultations between the Yemeni government and Houthi movement by next month after the second attempt at peace talks in September failed.

The intensified fighting in Al Hudaydah has closed the once bustling port and blocked the main roads to Houthis controlled areas, such as the capital Sanaa, complicating food and aid delivery to millions.

The UN has warned that in a worst-case scenario, the battle for Hudaydah could cost up to 250,000 lives, as well as cut off aid supplies to millions of people in desperate need.