More than 2,000 Yemenis flee to Djibouti as fighting intensifies

Yemeni refugees arrive in Obock, Djibouti, within 24 hours as Houthis tighten their grip on the Bab al-Mandeb strait.

OBOCK, DJIBOUTI - JANUARY 18: A man walks through a male dormitory at an International Organization for Migration (IOM) transit centre for migrants returning from the Middle East on January 18, 2024 in Obock, Djibouti. The recent attacks on commercial ships by Yemen's Houthi rebel group, which have prompted a series of air strikes by the United States and its allies in response, have not just imperilled a vital shipping route, but also the popular "Eastern Route" for migrants heading from Ethiopia to Saudi Arabia, via Djibouti and the Bab al-Mandab Strait that connects the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea. The strait is also a heavily trafficked shipping route on the way to the Suez Canal. (Photo by Luke Dray/Getty Images) — A man walks through a male dormitory at an International Organization for Migration transit centre for migrants in Obock, Djibouti [File: Luke Dray/Getty Images]

More than 2,000 people have fled from Yemen to Djibouti as fighting between the Houthis and government forces intensifies.

Renewed conflict in Yemen has displaced 85,818 people to date and 82,000 since the start of September, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Sunday.

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Djibouti’s Economy and Finance Minister Ilyas M Dawaleh said on Saturday that 1,400 Yemenis had arrived in Djibouti in the last 24 hours. That number has now exceeded 2,000 people, according to Sunday’s IOM figures.

In a separate post on Friday, Dawaleh said that 500 refugees had arrived in the coastal city of Obock, including women and children, after they were rescued at sea when their boats ran out of fuel while crossing the Bab al-Mandeb strait.

Obock, a city only about 20 kilometres (12 miles) across the water from the Yemeni coast, has for several years been a preferred arrival point for those seeking refuge from war-torn Yemen. The Bab al-Mandeb strait is also used in the opposite direction by migrants from the Horn of Africa, who transit through Yemen on their way to Gulf countries.

Safiya Ibrahim, humanitarian response coordinator for the IOM, told AFP that “vulnerable groups such as women and children have reached the shores of Obock, with more expected in the coming days”.

Djibouti hosts tens of thousands of refugees and asylum seekers. United Nations Refugee Agency figures from March 2026 show a registered population of more than 36,000, with the majority from Somalia, Ethiopia and Yemen.

The Houthis seized the Red Sea port city of Mocha on Thursday and have since overrun the coastline and islands surrounding the Bab al-Mandeb strait. The rapid offensive has forced thousands of families to flee, with entire villages reportedly emptied in districts such as Maqbanah, Jabal Habashi and al-Maafer.