At around 10 p.m. on April 29, Fatima Mansour was standing near the window inside a room of her rented house in the Sirf area of Bani Hushaish district, Sanaa. Overhead, the roar of an American warplane filled the sky.
Moments later, a missile struck a nearby house, unleashing a massive explosion. The blast shattered the glass windows of many homes, spreading panic throughout the neighbourhood.
She screamed in fear as the blast shook the building. Her four children — two boys and two girls — burst into tears. The explosion plunged the home into darkness after severing the electricity cables.
“It was a horrific moment, unlike anything I had ever experienced,” she told The New Arab. As her children cried in terror, she tried to calm them, saying, “Don’t worry. We will leave this place.”
Since March 15, US strikes have bombed numerous sites in Houthi-controlled provinces in North Yemen. The strikes have killed over 200 civilians and wounded more than 400 others.
As relentless American airstrikes continued across northern Yemen, a new wave of displacement has taken shape.
After ten years of war, Yemen remains one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Yemen is already the fifth-largest internal displacement crisis in the world, with an estimated 4.8 million internally displaced, according to the Global Displacement Forecast Report 2025.
The report estimates that Yemen will witness an increase of 340,000 people displaced in 2025.
More than 18.2 million people are in dire need of humanitarian assistance and protection services, with tens of thousands already living in famine-like conditions, and a staggering five million more are acutely food insecure.
The US military has struck over 800 targets since mid-March, killing Houthi military personnel and destroying the militant group's facilities. These operations, Washington says, were to stop Houthi attacks on shipping lanes in the Red Sea.
Yemen’s Houthi group has launched attacks against vessels linked to Israel in the Red Sea since November 2023 in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The group took over power after toppling the country’s legitimate government in 2015.
On May 6, the US agreed to a ceasefire, saying it would halt its bombing campaign against Yemen’s Houthis after the group agreed to stop targeting shipping in the Red Sea.
Regardless of the ceasefire, Fatima and her family say they will leave Sanaa and head to their village in the Raymah province, about 200 kilometres away from Sanaa.
"American airstrikes had not stopped for 50 days. Even if they cease, the situation remains explosive. Relocation is better than living in constant fear,” she said.
Sanaa becomes a frontline
Major cities, including Hodeida and Sanaa, had become main targets for American strikes since mid-March. The strikes turned all Houthi-controlled provinces into frontlines. This has sparked fear among numerous families, driving them to prepare for relocation.
Saddam, a Yemeni cook in Saudi Arabia, said he requested his family to apply for a visit visa and travel to Jeddah, where he stays.
“It is not cowardice to keep yourself distant when you see a danger. It is logic and wisdom,” he told The New Arab.
He indicated that his family — his wife, two sons and a daughter — will travel to the Kingdom soon. “If I can help them get out of the conflict zone, I have to do it," Saddam said.
It is not the first time Sanaa has been under airstrikes by a foreign country, but Saddam says that the American strikes have been deadly as they have bombed civilian homes and killed and injured hundreds of people in just seven weeks.
"When I saw the videos of the strike that hit the Furweh neighbourhood in Shoub district in Sanaa on April 20, I decided to get my family out of Sanaa. It is an evident sign that civilians are not safe from American warplanes."
That overnight strike killed 12 civilians and wounded dozens, leaving damage to homes, shops and vehicles.
“Today, Sanaa is a frontline, and Israel and the US have no red lines. They ruined Gaza, and such cruelty can be replicated in Yemen,” said Saddam.
Fuel crisis and relocation
Saleh Ayid, a supermarket owner in Sanaa, said the escalating violence will have a considerable impact on the livelihood of families and will force people to move from one place to another to cope with the living challenges.
The economic deterioration, coupled with inflation and the depreciation of the Yemeni rial, pushes some people to move in search of better livelihood opportunities, according to the Global Displacement Forecast Report 2025.
"Sanaa has seen a fuel crisis, and it will resume if oil ports are exposed to more Israeli strikes. This means prices will rise, small businesses will face difficulty staying afloat, and many jobs will be lost. Accordingly, many families will find it compulsory to move to other locations where they can afford to live," Saleh told The New Arab.
On April 18, US strikes hit Ras Issa fuel port in Hodeida, the supply lifeline to over 20 million people in Houthi-controlled territories. The port facilities endured huge destruction, leaving them out of order. The US military said it aimed to cut off a source of supplies and funds for the Houthis.
“People have now begun feeling the consequences of the Israeli-American strikes. The fuel crisis can hurt 90 percent of the population, and it will heighten poverty and trigger displacement,” he added.
The fear of death is not the sole reason behind many families' departure from Sanaa or any other city in North Yemen.
As Sakeh explained, “Several families will return to their villages because the war and fuel crisis will impact their income. They will find it hard to pay rent and cover other living expenses, including water, electricity and cooking gas."
Displacement: A journey toward the unknown
Bushra Humaidi, a humanitarian worker in Taiz, said the rising military escalation is a prologue to a fresh displacement wave in the country.
Speaking to The New Arab, she said: “Displacement is a compulsory journey toward the unknown. It is a threat to millions of people in Yemen. Any actions of war will deepen the humanitarian crisis and heighten civilians’ suffering.”
Many aid organisations have halted operations in Yemen, creating massive hardships for millions of civilians. The security challenges, the funding shortages and the shifting American aid policy have hindered the continuation of aid programs in the country.
“The dwindling presence of relief organisations is worsening the plight of displaced people in Yemen," Bushra added.
"Even if they manage to survive the war, they face life without access to healthcare or education, only pain and fear. This is a new kind of hell for Yemenis, especially the displaced," she concluded.
The writer is a Yemeni journalist, reporting from Yemen, whose identity we are protecting for their security