A Yemeni family spends a week on the road fleeing another Houthi offensive

What the report says

Al Jazeera reports that a Yemeni family was forced into another round of displacement after Houthi forces advanced along Yemen’s Red Sea coast in early September 2026. The account follows Saeed Hassan, his brother Mohammed and their relatives, who fled al-Khokha after witnessing government troops pull back from nearby front lines and fearing the Houthis would reach their town. The family had already been displaced once before, from areas near Hodeidah in 2018.

According to the article, the offensive began with heavy shelling in Hodeidah and Taiz governorates and then moved southward, including the capture of Mocha and al-Khokha and the broader Red Sea coast. The family left with only documents, clothing and a few belongings, while leaving behind larger goods and trade merchandise. On the road, they described shelling, explosions, damaged vehicles, empty shops and soldiers retreating with weapons abandoned or hidden.

Al Jazeera says the journey took them through Mocha and then onward toward Aden, with repeated delays, shortages of water and food, and dangerous traffic as soldiers and civilians streamed south. Saeed eventually reached a shelter in Aden, while Mohammed was delayed by a punctured tyre and exhaustion. The story illustrates how shifting front lines in Yemen continue to uproot civilians and strain already fragile transport, food and shelter conditions in the country’s war-affected south.