‘Need a Plan B’: Yemenis in Aden prepare for another war as missiles fall

As Houthi missiles strike Aden, residents stockpile food and prepare escape plans, fearing a return to all-out war.

Vehicles drive on a street in the southern port city of Aden, Yemen October 29 [Reuters]

For Mohammed Abdul Malik, the powerful explosions that have hit Yemen’s southern city of Aden repeatedly over the past month are an ominous warning of darker days ahead.

Yemen’s Houthis have claimed attacks against several locations in Aden, including the international airport, military camps, the city’s port, and the presidential palace – which serves as a base for Yemen’s government.

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Fearing that the city could once again descend into widespread violence, Abdul Malik has begun taking precautions. He has stockpiled food and prepared his car for a long journey if he needs to leave.

“I’ll tell you about myself and my close friends: We’ve started buying and stockpiling basic provisions, like sugar and other staples,” 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, to the northeast, or Hadramout, to the east.

“We’ve mapped out an exit route from the city. I’ve prepared my car, checked it over, and set aside an emergency supply of fuel. I’m ready to pack up my family and head out at a moment’s notice,” he said.

Daily life disrupted

After four years of relative calm, Yemen’s war has reignited in recent months, particularly since early September, when the Houthis launched a major offensive to seize government-held areas in the west of the country from the Saudi-backed, pro-government National Resistance Forces (NRF).

Within a week, the Iran-backed armed group – also known as Ansar Allah, Arabic for Supporters of God – had seized districts in Hodeidah and Taiz provinces, including the port city of Mocha , a stronghold of the NRF, and the strategic Bab al-Mandeb strait.

A government counteroffensive launched in early October has made limited gains along the Red Sea coast, but at the same time the Houthis have tightened their siege of Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, after capturing a vital road linking it to Aden.

Aden had remained relatively peaceful despite the fierce fighting elsewhere, and had 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 has raised fears that the Houthis may be seeking to capture Aden.

Accounts from friends who fled Taiz, where fighting and the siege have driven up prices and disrupted supplies, have deepened his concerns about what could happen to his city.

“Prices in Taiz have already doubled, and the same could easily happen in Aden. If the [Aden] port were to be struck, prices would skyrocket,” he said.

“At work, my colleagues and I talk about what we should buy, what food we ought to store, what our contingency plan is, and where we would go if we had to leave,” he added.

Abdul Malik described how the Houthi attacks have disrupted daily life in Aden, with some families limiting their movements – especially at night.

“When the [first missile] explosion occurred, one of my colleagues went to the school to pick up her son and found the students frightened and gathered together in one place. We go to work and take our children to school, but there is a sense of anxiety and tension,” he told Al Jazeera.

Aden international airport, currently Yemen’s busiest airport, has borne the brunt of the Houthi 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, the 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 have left children struggling with fear and anxiety.

“An explosion jolts the children awake in terror, leaving them unable to sleep for the rest of the night. Even the sound of an ordinary airplane now strikes fear into my family,” Awadh told Al Jazeera.

He said the attacks have disrupted schools and businesses, prompting families to rush home and some parents to keep their children away from school. Some families have sent vulnerable relatives, including children and elderly people, to neighbouring Lahj and Abyan provinces or other districts of Aden. Others have rented homes further away from the airport.

Awadh, who lives with 10 other family members, said they have taken precautions by keeping children away from windows during attacks. He and his neighbours have also created a WhatsApp group to check on one another after each explosion.

“The [Aden] airport, which serves the civilian population, as well as other civilian infrastructure and residential areas, must not be targeted,” Awadh said.

Aden remains vulnerable

Aden, Yemen’s second-most important city after the Houthi-held capital, Sanaa, suffered extensive destruction in early 2015 during fierce fighting between the Houthis and their opponents, as well as air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition.

Even after the Houthis were driven out, the city continued to experience sporadic clashes between rival anti-Houthi factions, which sometimes turned their weapons on each other.

Adeeb al-Shatri, a professor of journalism at Aden and Hadramout universities, said the latest wave of Houthi missile attacks had compounded the suffering of a city already plagued by lawlessness and insecurity.

He questioned why Yemen’s internationally recognised government had left Aden, its temporary capital and seat of government, vulnerable to Houthi attacks without adequate air defences 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 military has claimed to have air defence forces in Aden, with reports of drone interceptions before they reached civilian areas.

Yemen’s Information Minister, Moammar al-Eryani, did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on criticism that air defence systems have been inadequate in protecting 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 salaries just to live a simple life,” he said.

Al-Shatri also challenged the notion that Houthi attacks had brought businesses and education in Aden to a complete standstill.

“People’s movement in the city returned to normal just an hour after the explosion because they have to keep moving to earn money and secure their daily bread,” he said. “If work were to stop, it would lead to a financial crisis, and they would be unable to provide food for themselves.”

胡塞武装的导弹袭击亚丁后，居民们囤积食物并制定逃生计划，担心全面战争会再次爆发。

10月29日，车辆行驶在也门南部港口城市亚丁的街道上。[路透社]

对于穆罕默德·阿卜杜勒·马利克来说，过去一个月来袭击也门南部城市亚丁的强烈爆炸，预示着更加黑暗的日子即将到来。

也门胡塞武装声称对亚丁的多个地点发动了袭击，包括国际机场、军营、港口和总统府（也门政府所在地）。

沙特阿拉伯报告拦截胡塞武装无人机，目标是麦加（共3条，第1条）

胡塞武装声称对沙特机场和石油设施发动了六次袭击（共三份清单中的第二份）。

也门塔伊兹附近战火持续，联合国敦促允许人道主义援助进入（共3条记录，此为第3条）。

阿卜杜勒·马利克担心这座城市会再次陷入大规模暴力冲突，因此开始采取预防措施。他储备了食物，并做好了长途旅行的准备，以防需要离开。

阿卜杜勒·马利克告诉半岛电视台：“我来告诉你我和我的好朋友们的情况：我们已经开始购买和囤积基本物资，比如糖和其他主食。”

如果安全局势进一步恶化，国家机构崩溃，他的B计划是带着家人逃离亚丁，前往东北部的舍卜沃或东部的哈德拉毛寻求庇护。

“我们已经规划好了离开这座城市的路线。我已经准备好了我的车，检查过车辆，并储备了应急燃料。我随时准备带着家人出发，”他说。

日常生活被打乱

在经历了四年的相对平静之后，也门战争在最近几个月再次爆发，特别是自 9 月初以来，胡塞武装发动了一场大规模攻势，试图从沙特支持的亲政府武装“全国抵抗力量”（NRF）手中夺取该国西部政府控制的地区。

不到一周，这个由伊朗支持的武装组织——也被称为安萨尔真主（阿拉伯语意为“真主的支持者”）——就占领了荷台达省和塔伊兹省的多个地区，包括北方革命阵线（NRF）的据点摩卡港，以及具有战略意义的曼德海峡。

政府军于 10 月初发起的反攻在红海沿岸取得了有限的进展，但与此同时，胡塞武装在占领了连接也门第三大城市塔伊兹和亚丁的重要道路后，加强了对塔伊兹的围困。

尽管其他地方战火纷飞，亚丁却一直保持相对平静，并成为数千名因冲突而流离失所者的避难所。

本月胡塞武装发动的导弹和无人机袭击打破了这种平静，并引发了人们对胡塞武装可能试图占领亚丁的担忧。

从逃离塔伊兹的朋友们那里了解到，战斗和围城导致物价上涨、物资供应中断，这加深了他对家乡未来命运的担忧。

他说：“塔伊兹的物价已经翻了一番，亚丁也很容易出现同样的情况。如果亚丁港被封锁，物价将会飙升。”

“在工作中，我和同事们会讨论我们应该买什么，应该储存哪些食物，我们的应急计划是什么，以及如果不得不离开我们会去哪里，”他补充道。

阿卜杜勒·马利克描述了胡塞武装的袭击如何扰乱了亚丁的日常生活，一些家庭不得不减少出行——尤其是在夜间。

“第一枚导弹爆炸时，我的一位同事去学校接儿子，发现学生们都吓坏了，挤在一起。我们照常上班送孩子上学，但总感觉心里很焦虑紧张，”他告诉半岛电视台。

亚丁国际机场是也门目前最繁忙的机场，它首当其冲地受到了胡塞武装导弹和无人机袭击的影响，这些袭击反复扰乱了航空旅行，迫使航空公司取消或延误航班，并将其他航班改道至也门其他机场或国外机场。

对于居住在机场附近的居民来说，反复发生的袭击和爆炸给他们的家庭造成了巨大的心理创伤，促使一些家庭考虑搬迁到亚丁市内外更安全的地区。艾哈迈德·阿瓦德是亚丁机场附近霍尔马克萨尔区的居民，他说，这些袭击让孩子们饱受恐惧和焦虑的折磨。

“一声爆炸惊醒了孩子们，让他们恐惧不已，整夜无法入睡。现在，就连普通飞机的声音都会让我的家人感到害怕，”阿瓦德告诉半岛电视台。

他说，袭击事件扰乱了学校和企业的正常运转，迫使许多家庭赶回家，一些家长甚至让孩子待在家中不上学。一些家庭将包括儿童和老人在内的弱势亲属送往邻近的拉赫季省和阿比扬省，或亚丁的其他地区。还有一些家庭则在离机场较远的地方租房居住。

阿瓦德与另外10位家人同住，他说他们采取了预防措施，比如在袭击发生时让孩子们远离窗户。他和邻居们还建了一个WhatsApp群组，以便在每次爆炸后互相问候。

阿瓦德说：“服务于平民的亚丁机场以及其他民用基础设施和居民区绝不能成为攻击目标。”

亚丁仍然脆弱

亚丁是也门第二大城市，仅次于胡塞武装控制的首都萨那。2015 年初，亚丁在胡塞武装与其反对派之间的激烈战斗以及沙特领导的联军的空袭中遭受了广泛的破坏。

即使胡塞武装被驱逐之后，该市仍然不时发生敌对的反胡塞武装派别之间的零星冲突，有时甚至互相残杀。

亚丁大学和哈德拉毛大学新闻学教授阿迪布·沙特里表示，胡塞武装最新一轮的导弹袭击加剧了这座已经饱受无法无天和不安全困扰的城市的苦难。

他质疑，为什么也门国际公认的政府让其临时首都和政府所在地亚丁在缺乏足够的防空力量拦截导弹和无人机的情况下，容易受到胡塞武装的袭击。

“亚丁目前是首都，是众多国家主要和次要机构的所在地。因此，合法政府必须保护它，”沙特里告诉半岛电视台。

也门军方声称在亚丁拥有防空部队，有报道称无人机在到达平民区之前就被拦截。

也门新闻部长穆阿迈尔·埃里亚尼没有回应半岛电视台关于防空系统不足以保护亚丁的批评意见。

沙特里认为，亚丁只有一小部分富裕居民能够储备食物和其他必需品以应对紧急情况。他说，大多数居民已经难以养家糊口。

他说：“在欧洲和其他稳定的阿拉伯国家，人们会在危机期间储备食物，但在亚丁，人们需要三倍于目前工资的收入才能过上简单的生活。”

沙特里还对胡塞武装的袭击导致亚丁的商业和教育完全停滞的说法提出了质疑。

他说：“爆炸发生仅一小时后，城里的人流就恢复了正常，因为他们必须继续出行赚钱养家糊口。如果工作停止，就会引发经济危机，他们就无法维持生计。”