Over 20,000 newly displaced people in northern Yemen

CAIRO – An international relief agency says that a new wave of displaced persons has hit a northern Yemeni city after fighting surged between forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition and their rival Houthi rebels.

Doctors Without Borders also said Wednesday that in the northern Yemeni city of Abs the agency treated over 360 civilians wounded in the cross-fire in August and September. The number amounts to nearly 40 per cent of all the wounded in 2018.

The influx of nearly 20,000 newly displaced people is a result of intense battles raging in a district close to the Yemen-Saudi Arabia border called Bani Hassan, around 50 kilometres (31 miles) from Abs, the agency said.

The agency said those who make it to Abs arrive “too late for us to save their lives.”