Military escalation in Yemen, humanitarian concern, and a four-way summit in Egypt to discuss the security of the Horn of Africa

In Yemen, the danger for children does not end when the sound of bombing subsides or they leave the combat zones. Houthi landmines and unexploded remnants of war remain lurking on roads, homes, and around population centers, turning daily life into a dangerous journey.

With renewed fighting in the west of the country, thousands of families find themselves forced to flee, while children face new risks that do not stop at displacement and loss of safety and education. Rather, it extends to a danger that may be hiding under their feet.

After 11 years of war sparked by the Houthi coup against the internationally recognized government, children in Yemen are once again facing some of the most violent waves of fighting in years. Renewed clashes in the governorates of Taiz and Hodeidah, in the west of the country, led to the displacement of about 18,500 people within just 72 hours, forcing families to leave their homes, disrupting children’s education, and exacerbating the needs of displaced families.

War Child International believes that the risks threatening children in Yemen go beyond the killing and injuries resulting from direct combat. More children were killed as a result of landmines and unexploded remnants of war during the first six months of 2026 than in all of 2025, in a worrying indication of the extent of the risks that children face in their daily lives.

The international organization indicates that more than 12.2 million children across Yemen are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. In light of the recent escalation, the organization is working to assess its effects and respond to the urgent needs of affected children and families, including providing basic necessities, supporting children’s well-being and protection, and helping them access basic services.

So far, the organization has distributed 400 relief packages that include basic items, such as mattresses, blankets, cooking equipment, and personal hygiene supplies. However, the scale of needs is increasing as more families continue to flee areas of violence in search of a safer place.

In turn, the Yemeni Red Crescent Society reported that the rapid change in the front lines, along with movement restrictions and the disruption of communications networks, forced families to leave their homes in a short time, often without being able to take only a few of their basic possessions, or without any possessions at all.

The Yemeni Red Crescent Society attributed the differences between the numbers of displaced persons issued by the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations Population Fund, and the government unit for managing displaced camps, to the difference in reporting periods, the geographical scope covered by each agency, and the data collection methodologies used.

She explained that the “Fast Displacement Tracking” mechanism of the International Organization for Migration provides rapid and partial monitoring of displacement cases, while the government unit for camp management collects registration data received from the affected governorates. Therefore, these numbers should be treated as complementary data, not numbers that can be directly compared.

Rapid displacement data also needs continuous verification, given the continued change in population movement and the changing locations of displaced families.

In addition to the displacement cases monitored by available external data sets, monitoring operations and operational information of the Yemen Red Crescent Society branches indicate that the effects of the escalation extend geographically to a broader scope.

The association has identified current response needs in the governorates of Taiz, Al Dhalea, Al Hudaydah, Al Jawf, Ma’rib, Saada and Lahj.

The governorates of Amran, Dhamar and Aden were also identified as confrontation areas, or reception areas and confirmed destinations for population movements, which prompted the association to mobilize response resources and direct them towards the reception points for the displaced.

In its latest reports, the association confirmed that these field observations are subject to continuous verification, in light of the instability of population movement, and the lack of comprehensive coverage yet of all affected sites within the available displacement data sets.

The association warned that the continuation of these movements increases pressure on the already limited capabilities in the areas of shelter, water, health and basic services, whether in areas affected by the fighting or in areas receiving displaced persons.

In conjunction with the escalation of military confrontations in Taiz Governorate (southwestern Yemen), the Houthi group intensified its persecution and arrest campaigns in the kidnapped Yemeni capital, Sana'a, targeting citizens it accuses of supporting government forces and the popular resistance in Taiz, or expressing positions rejecting the military escalation taking place in the governorate.

Local sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Houthi militants carried out raids and summons operations in a number of Sanaa neighborhoods in recent days, searching for people whom the group accuses of sympathizing with government forces and the resistance in Taiz.

The sources added that the campaign included raiding homes, summoning people, and arresting others in the streets and their workplaces, before taking a number of them to security agencies affiliated with the group, amid their families’ fears of their continued detention and the failure to reveal their whereabouts or the charges against them.

According to the sources, the arrests came against the backdrop of personal positions and publications on social media sites dealing with field developments in Taiz, or criticizing the Houthi military escalation, in addition to accusations of some residents of showing sympathy with government forces and the popular resistance.

The families of some of the newly kidnapped people in Sanaa revealed repeated attempts to find out the whereabouts of their relatives, who they said had been arrested by the group's militants during the past two days from various areas in the capital, amid fear that they would be transferred between different detention sites or kept isolated from their families.

The families explained that their children were not a party to the fighting, and that their arrest came as a result of positions or publications dealing with the events in Taiz. Other families in Sanaa also fear that the rapid military developments in the governorate will expand the circle of suspicion within Sanaa. Especially with the group’s strictness in dealing with posts and comments dealing with the course of battles or their losses.

Essam, a relative of one of the kidnapped people, told Asharq Al-Awsat that his family was surprised when his relative was taken from the center of the Al-Asbahi neighborhood in the Al-Sabeen District in Sana’a, after he was accused of sympathizing with government forces in Taiz, stressing that the family has been trying since that time to find out where he is being held.

In another case, the family of a resident in the Al-Hasaba neighborhood in Al-Thawra District, north of Sana'a, explained that their relative was not a fighter, and that what angered the Houthis - according to the family - was his interaction with news of the battles in Taiz, and his sharing of posts talking about developments in the confrontations.

According to local sources, in recent days, the group has intensified monitoring procedures inside Sanaa, including following residents’ activity on social media sites, and monitoring posts and comments related to battles and military developments in Taiz.

Sources say that the Houthi group's agencies also rely on a network of elements and informants to follow population movements and collect information about people suspected of sympathizing with government forces or popular resistance.

Concerns - according to the sources - are not limited to people who are directly involved in the fighting. It says that simply expressing a position in support of government forces or sympathy with the popular resistance in Taiz may raise suspicions among the Houthi forces.

These movements come after previous security campaigns in Sanaa and other areas under the control of the Houthis, targeting activists, media figures, and social figures, according to human rights and media reports.

The Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms announced the documentation of 1,033 crimes and violations that it said were committed by the Houthi group during the period from September 3 to 27, in conjunction with the military escalation, and included cases of killing, kidnapping, forced disappearance, and home raids.

On Sunday, the Egyptian city of El Alamein on the northern coast will host a “quadrilateral summit” bringing together the leaders of Egypt, Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia, on the sidelines of the meetings of the “El Alamein-Africa Forum”, in order to coordinate security developments in the “Horn of Africa” region.

The Egyptian presidency said in a statement on Saturday that President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi will participate in the “El Alamein Consultative Summit,” which will also bring together the leaders of Eritrea, Isaias Afwerki, Sudanese Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud, noting that “the summit comes within the framework of consultation and coordination on regional issues of common interest.”

The summit comes at a time when the Horn of Africa region is witnessing escalating security developments linked to the conflicts in Ethiopia and their effects on neighboring countries.

On the eve of the summit, the Egyptian President held bilateral meetings with the presidents of Eritrea and Somalia, on the sidelines of the “Alamein-Africa Forum,” and discussed with them “regional developments, especially in the Horn of Africa,” according to the Egyptian presidency.

During his meeting with the Eritrean President, Al-Sisi affirmed “his country’s full support for the security and stability of Eritrea, and respect for its sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity,” and stressed “his country’s categorical rejection of any violation of the sovereignty of states or infringement of their territorial integrity, in contravention of the principles of international law and the founding statute of the African Union.”

According to the Egyptian presidency, Al-Sisi stressed “his country’s keenness to continue coordination and consultation with Eritrea on regional issues of common interest, which contributes to enhancing stability in the Horn of Africa, supporting efforts to resolve crises by peaceful means, and enhancing cooperation to achieve security and stability in the Red Sea.”

The same message was confirmed by the Egyptian President, during his meeting with his Somali counterpart, and he stressed “the constants of Cairo’s positions in support of Somalia’s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, and support for its national institutions.” Sisi called for “strengthening national consensus among the various Somali components, in a way that supports the unity of the state, preserves its stability, and avoids security challenges.”

The quadripartite consultative summit in El Alamein focuses on developments in the situation in the Horn of Africa, and the repercussions of the internal armed conflict in Ethiopia on neighboring countries, according to a member of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Salah Halima, who said, “The El Alamein summit comes to confirm the solidarity of the four countries regarding the threats witnessed in that region, and to enhance coordination to preserve its stability.”

Halima believes, in statements to Asharq Al-Awsat, that “the summit will focus on the challenges taking place in the Horn of Africa, especially with regard to unilateral actions in the Nile River, their impact on Egyptian water security, and attempts by countries, including Ethiopia, to obtain a sea outlet in the Red Sea,” noting that “Cairo aims to strengthen coordination with those countries, to ensure self-restraint and non-escalation, and to contain existing conflicts, on the basis of international conventions and laws.”

During his meeting with the Egyptian President, the Eritrean President confirmed that “there is a great consensus between Cairo and his country regarding regional developments, especially regarding the necessity of respecting the sovereignty and territorial unity of countries and not interfering in their internal affairs,” according to the Egyptian presidency.

The El Alamein Quartet meeting comes at an important time when the region faces challenges in the sea lanes, according to former Egyptian Assistant Foreign Minister, Ambassador Hossam Issa. He said that “the meeting must come out with a clear message, against any attempts to ignite the situation in a region that cannot tolerate more regional or internal conflicts,” noting that “instability does not only affect the parties to the conflict, but extends to the geographical and international surroundings as well.”

Issa confirms, in statements to Asharq Al-Awsat, that “the Egyptian president’s meetings with the leaders of Eritrea, Somalia, and Sudan are not directed against anyone,” but they aim to “coordinate and consult to protect the safety of those regional countries, and to confront the movements of any separatist entities in the region.” He said that the recent developments in Ethiopia and in the southern Red Sea “require continued coordination between Cairo and these countries.”