Fighting in Yemen is widening rapidly. Fifty-eight airstrikes were reported over 24 hours, and the U.N. refugee agency says more than 80,000 people have fled their homes in recent days, many for the second or third time.
Fighting in Yemen is widening rapidly. According to local reporting, 58 airstrikes were carried out across six provinces within 24 hours.
광고 문의 · 300×250The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, said more than 80,000 residents have moved to escape the fighting in recent days, a substantial share of them displaced for a second or third time.
Areas where strikes were reported include al-Jawf, Marib, Taiz, Hodeidah, Saada and al-Bayda. One strike was reported to have killed more than 20 people, including a child.
Why the Front Has Widened
Since last month fighting has spread to the Red Sea coast and the southwest, raising civilian casualties, with clashes concentrated near ports, roads and other routes for moving goods.
A truce brokered by the United Nations in 2022 had halted large-scale combat, but its effect has weakened sharply since fighting resumed this year.
Humanitarian access is also narrowing. With road closures and security problems delaying relief convoys, water and medical supplies at displacement sites are reported to be short.
Risk Intersecting With Sea Lanes
Some areas of fighting lie close to the Bab el-Mandeb strait, a narrow passage linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and a principal route for shipping between Europe and Asia.
Safety concerns near the strait feed immediately into insurance rates and routing decisions. Choosing a longer route adds sailing days and fuel consumption.
With oil prices already high, added uncertainty over sea routes increases logistics costs, and exporters and importers in Korea and Taiwan are exposed to the same route.
Rather than relaying the course of the fighting, this paper will continue to follow the matter along two axes: civilian harm and the movement of goods.
