By Fakhr al-Azb

 

SANAA, 26 August. - (ANA) - The increase of military conflict in Yemen is not limited to traditional front lines, with the fighting impacting different aspects of life.

 

The UN-sponsored de-escalation agreement reached between the conflicting parties in Yemen in April 2022 failed to protect what remained of the necessities of life amid a new threat of all-out war, bringing the spectre of the ongoing humanitarian disaster to the fore since the Ansar Allah group, also know as the Houthis, took control of the capital Sanaa in September 2014.

 

During the current military round, infrastructure and service facilities are direct targets in attacks, almost completely paralysing local trade, disrupting supply chains and leaving millions of Yemenis, particularly displaced people, facing a daily struggle for survival in a country where even the most basic rights are an unattainable luxury.

 

The present fighting also affected Mocha Port, one of the most important arteries for the flow of food supplies along Yemen's western coast, which has come under repeated shelling.

 

According to port director Abdulmalik Al-Sharaabi, the attacks caused extensive damage to vital facilities, with direct losses estimated at $16 million, as well as deaths and injuries among workers and civilians.

 

This disruption immediately impacted living conditions for thousands of people, particularly due to the halt of basic goods flows, foremost among them food and fuel products.

 

Wide areas under the control of the internationally recognised government along the western coast and parts of the neighbouring highlands have been hit by severe shortages.

 

In addition to the alarming figures related to living conditions, this paralysis has another particularly harsh dimension.

 

Hundreds of workers at Mokha port suddenly found themselves deprived of their only sources of income, accompanied by severe food shortages and sharp price increases that have placed a heavy burden on all citizens exhausted by years of prolonged war.

 

Meanwhile, residents of Marib province are facing immense suffering being the largest refuge for internally displaced people.

 

The province, which carries significant demographic and humanitarian weight, is facing repeated and intense waves of ballistic missile and drone attacks, threatening the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians, particularly those living in dilapidated tents in informal displacement camps.

 

Displaced from Al Mahwit province, Umm Ziad told The New Arab, "We are living in a catastrophic situation, as we have no food to live on away from our homes since we were displaced while fleeing the Houthis' brutality. We depend on aid, and we have begun to fear that we will be forced to flee to another province because of the continued shelling of Marib."

 

The danger of further war extends to harming the main lifeline of livelihoods by targeting energy facilities and domestic gas supplies that serve most Yemeni provinces.

 

This direct threat risks causing a complete paralysis of supply chains, early signs of which have already emerged in the shortage of domestic gas cylinders in several cities.

 

From Taiz, Abdu Saif Al-Bakari told TNA, "I have been trying for four days to obtain a gas cylinder. I searched all the petrol stations in Taiz and all the cylinder shops, but I could not find one. They told me that gas was unavailable because of the shelling of Marib, and I was forced to buy it on the black market for 20,000 rials, although its official price is 9,500 rials (One dollar is equivalent to 1,550 rials in areas controlled by the internationally recognised government.)."

 

The repercussions has also suffocated the capital, Sanaa, under the Houthis' control.

 

As commercial activity at Mokha port has halted and major supply lines have been cut, Sanaa's markets have suffered severe food shortages, immediately reflected in unprecedented waves of price rises that have consumed what little money remains in residents' pockets.

 

In a city already suffering a chronic humanitarian crisis because salaries have remained unpaid since 2016, with no prospect of an end to the crisis, the latest escalation has closed the last avenues of survival for millions of families unable to afford food or medicine.

 

"We have reached a situation in which we can no longer bear living," From Sanaa, Ibrahim told TNA. "For more than 10 years, we have lived without salaries and suffered fear, repression and security crackdowns to the extent that if a person says he is hungry, he is threatened or kidnapped. Despite this, the Houthis impose financial levies on citizens under the pretext of celebrating the Prophet's birthday."

 

As the health, education and other basic services sectors collapse under the strain of shortages of supplies and fuel, Sanaa is now living through an extremely harsh reality.

 

Citizens find themselves trapped between the burden of excessive price rises and the complete helplessness imposed by a parallel economy that is draining the resources needed for their daily lives.

 

Residents are also facing heavy financial levies imposed under the name of commemorating religious occasions, alongside a growing wave of online protests launched by citizens on social media platforms under hashtags denouncing escalating policies of starvation.

 

Experts warn the current conditions is pushing the country towards extremely dangerous territory.

 

Wafik Saleh, executive director of the Taiz Centre for Studies, told TNA that Mokha Port going out of service would inevitably trigger a rapid wave of inflation, leading to unprecedented increases in the prices of food and basic goods at a time when markets are unable to absorb the shock or provide sustainable alternatives.

 

"The spectre of collapse does not stop at food. It extends to the most basic necessities of survival," Saleh explained. "Targeting the vicinity of energy facilities in Marib is emptying markets of their supplies of domestic cooking gas and other petroleum products, automatically fuelling black and parallel markets whose prices double the burden on Yemeni families."

 

"As people's purchasing power collapses, thousands find themselves forced to exhaust what remains of their income to cope with harsh living conditions, driving a catastrophic deterioration in humanitarian crises on the ground," he added. "These accumulating crises are outlining the features of a comprehensive disaster that is undermining the efficiency of the health and food sectors as a result of interruptions to cold chains and rising hospital operating costs, threatening to increase the number of people in need of urgent assistance to unprecedented levels," Saleh concluded.   - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/26 August 2026 - - -