Yemenis flee across Red Sea as Houthis and Saudi-backed forces escalate war

The BBC's Frank Gardner speaks to some of those who have fled the war by crossing the Red Sea to Djibouti Ibrahim Issa, 50, is from the Yemeni coastal town of Dhubab, right on the front lines of the war between Yemen's Houthis and the Saudi-backed pro-government forces fighting them. Today he sits, surrounded by his family, on a tarpaulin spread over a sandy floor inside a vast open-sided warehouse at Markazi camp in Obock, northern Djibouti, packed with Yemeni families who have fled by boat across the narrow Bab al-Mandab strait. After their sea crossing, Yemeni refugees have made their way by truck and on foot to this camp, jointly administered by the government and the UN.

"How could I just sit there when my kids are screaming and shaking in terror?" says Ibrahim Issa. "When the sound of the planes start, and the kids hear the planes, they begin shouting and screaming. As parents it is our responsibility, what can you do when you see this? That is why we fled, to save them." Saudi Arabia issues first air raid alerts for Riyadh since Houthis escalated attacks Lightning Houthi advance in Yemen may bring dangerous new dimension to Iran war Ibrahim Issa escaped on his fishing boat with family and several goats As a fisherman, Ibrahim Issa already