Mohammed Abdul Malik says powerful explosions that have repeatedly struck the southern Yemeni city of Aden over the past month are a worrying warning of darker days to come.
Yemen’s Houthis have claimed attacks on several sites in Aden, including the international airport, military camps, the city’s port and the presidential palace, which serves as a base for the Yemeni government.
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Fearing that the city would once again descend into widespread violence, Abdul Malik began taking precautions. He stocked up on food and prepared his car for a long trip if he had to leave.
“I will tell you about me and my close friends: we started buying and storing basic goods, like sugar and other essentials,” Abdul Malik told Al Jazeera.
If the security situation deteriorates further and state institutions collapse, his plan B is to flee Aden with his family and seek refuge in Shabwa, in the northeast, or Hadramout, in the east.
“We mapped out a route out of town. I packed my car, checked it and put aside an emergency fuel supply. I’m ready to pack up my family and leave at a moment’s notice,” he said.
A disrupted daily life
After four years of relative calm, the war in Yemen has resumed in recent months, particularly since early September, when the Houthis launched a major offensive to retake government-controlled areas in the west of the country from the pro-government, Saudi-backed National Resistance Forces (NRF).
Within a week, the Iran-backed armed group – also known as Ansar Allah, Arabic for followers of God – seized districts in Hodeidah and Taiz provinces, including the port city of Mocha, an NRF stronghold, and the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait.
A government counter-offensive launched in early October made limited progress along the Red Sea coast, but at the same time the Houthis reinforced their siege of Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, after seizing a vital road linking it to Aden.
Aden has remained relatively peaceful despite heavy fighting elsewhere and has become a refuge for thousands of people displaced by the conflict.
The wave of Houthi missile and drone attacks this month has shattered that calm and raised fears that the Houthis may seek to capture Aden.
Stories from friends who fled Taiz, where fighting and siege have driven up prices and disrupted supplies, deepened his worries about what might happen to his city.
“Prices in Taiz have already doubled, and the same could easily happen in Aden. If the port (of Aden) were to be hit, prices would skyrocket,” he said.
“At work, my colleagues and I discuss what we should buy, what food we should stock, our emergency plan and where we would go if we had to leave,” he added.
Abdul Malik described how Houthi attacks have disrupted daily life in Aden, with some families limiting their movements, particularly at night.
“When the explosion (of the first missile) happened, one of my colleagues went to school to pick up her son and found the students scared and gathered in one place. We go to work and take our children to school, but there is a feeling of anxiety and tension,” he told Al Jazeera.
Airport attacks
Aden International Airport, currently Yemen’s busiest airport, has borne the brunt of the Houthis’ missile and drone attacks, which have repeatedly disrupted air travel, forcing airlines to cancel or delay flights and divert others to airports elsewhere in Yemen or abroad.
For residents living near the airport, repeated strikes and explosions have taken a psychological toll on families, prompting some to consider moving to safer areas inside and outside Aden. Ahmed Awadh, a resident of Aden’s Khor Maksar district near the airport, said the attacks left children struggling with fear and anxiety.
“An explosion wakes up the terrified children, leaving them unable to sleep for the rest of the night. Even the sound of an ordinary plane now scares my family,” Awadh told Al Jazeera.
He said the attacks disrupted schools and businesses, prompting families to rush home and some parents to keep their children away from school. Some families sent vulnerable relatives, including children and the elderly, to the neighboring provinces of Lahj and Abyan or to other districts of Aden. Others rented houses further from the airport.
Awadh, who lives with 10 other family members, said they took precautions by keeping children away from windows during the attacks. He and his neighbors also created a WhatsApp group to check on each other after each explosion.
“The (Aden) airport, which serves the civilian population, as well as other civilian infrastructure and residential areas, should not be targeted,” Awadh said.
Aden remains vulnerable
Aden, Yemen’s second city after the Houthi-held capital Sanaa, suffered significant destruction in early 2015 during heavy fighting between the Houthis and their opponents, as well as airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition.
Even after the Houthis were driven out, the city continued to see sporadic clashes between rival anti-Houthi factions, who sometimes turned their guns on each other.
Adeeb al-Shatri, a journalism professor at Aden and Hadramout universities, said the latest wave of Houthi missile attacks had added to the suffering of a city already plagued by lawlessness and insecurity.
He questioned why Yemen’s internationally recognized government had left Aden, its temporary capital and seat of government, vulnerable to Houthi attacks, without adequate air defense to intercept missiles and drones.
“Aden is currently the capital, housing both major and minor state institutions. Therefore, the legitimate government must protect it,” al-Shatri told Al Jazeera.
The Yemeni army said it had air defense forces in Aden, and reported interceptions of drones before they reached civilian areas.
Yemen’s Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment following criticism that air defense systems were not enough to protect Aden.
Al-Shatri argued that only a small proportion of Aden’s wealthier residents could afford to stockpile food and other essential supplies in preparation for an emergency. Most residents, he said, were already struggling to feed their families.
“In Europe and other stable Arab countries, people stockpile food during crises, but in Aden, people need three times their current salary just to live a simple life,” he said.
Al-Shatri also disputed the notion that the Houthi attacks had completely paralyzed businesses and education in Aden.
“People’s movements in the city returned to normal just an hour after the explosion, as they have to continue moving to earn money and ensure their daily bread,” he explained. “If work were to stop, it would cause a financial crisis and they would be unable to support themselves. »
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