Yemeni refugees arrive in Obock, Djibouti, inside 24 hours as Houthis tighten their grip on the Bab al-Mandeb strait.
Revealed On 13 Sep 2026
About 1,400 individuals have fled Yemen for Djibouti in a 24-hour interval, Djibouti’s financial system and finance minister says, as Houthi fighters tighten their grip on the Bab al-Mandeb strait.
Ilyas Moussa Dawaleh wrote on X on Saturday: “1,400 refugees arrived in Djibouti from Yemen in simply 24 hours.”
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In a separate publish on Friday, the minister stated that 500 refugees had arrived within the coastal metropolis of Obock, together with ladies and youngsters, after they had been rescued at sea when their boats ran out of gas whereas crossing the Bab-el-Mandeb strait.
Obock, a metropolis solely about 20 kilometres (12 miles) throughout the water from the Yemeni coast, has for a number of years been a most popular arrival level for these looking for refuge from war-torn Yemen. The Bab-el-Mandeb strait can be utilized in the other way by migrants from the Horn of Africa, who transit by means of Yemen on their solution to Gulf international locations.
Safiya Ibrahim, humanitarian response coordinator for the Worldwide Group for Migration (IOM), informed AFP that “susceptible teams reminiscent of ladies and youngsters have reached the shores of Obock, with extra anticipated within the coming days”.
The IOM warned on Friday that at the least 46,000 individuals had been displaced in Yemen since combating escalated final week.
“Households are being compelled to flee for the second or third time on this battle, with nearly nothing left,” Amy Pope, the IOM director normal, stated in a press release. “As combating spreads, reaching individuals with lifesaving help is changing into tougher. We urgently want secure, unimpeded entry.”
Djibouti hosts tens of hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers. United Nations Refugee Company figures from March 2026 present a registered inhabitants of greater than 36,000, with the bulk from Somalia, Ethiopia and Yemen.
The Houthis seized the Red Sea port city of Mocha on Thursday and have since overrun the shoreline and islands surrounding the Bab al-Mandeb strait. The speedy offensive has compelled hundreds of households to flee, with whole villages reportedly emptied in districts reminiscent of Maqbanah, Jabal Habashi and al-Maafer.
