ADEN, Yemen
Humanitarian conditions in Aden have deteriorated as supporters of embattled President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi and those of the Shiite Houthi militant group continue to fight for control of the southern city.
Aden residents say they have been forced to stay in their homes since Saudi Arabia and its Gulf-Arab allies launched a military offensive one week ago against Houthi positions in Yemen, prompting the Houthis to advance on the south in force.
"We began stocking up on food after hearing the Houthis were advancing on Aden, but our stocks are running out and it's too dangerous to leave our homes," Nabil al-Guneid, a resident of Aden's Khormaksar district, where the fiercest clashes have occurred, told The Anadolu Agency.
Residents of the southwestern Al-Tawahi district say local water infrastructure was severely damaged during the clashes, leaving them without water for days at a time, while motorists have to stand in long lines to buy fuel.
"Conditions in Aden are beyond miserable," said Ibrahim al-Saidi, a father and city resident. "Whoever dares to leave their home to buy supplies won't have enough money."
Public sector salaries in Aden have been delayed due to the upheaval that has recently engulfed the city, while most shops have shut down, hindering day-to-day trade.
-Hospitals overwhelmed-
Hospitals in Aden, meanwhile, have been flooded with hundreds of casualties from flashpoint areas of the city.
Doctors without Borders (DWB) said this week that its treatment facilities in Aden had received "massive" numbers of killed and injured.
"Last Thursday alone we received 111 injured," Hani Selim, who coordinates the organization's field activities, said in a statement on Monday.
Selim's organization also said that its facilities had been overwhelmed since the onset of clashes, having received over 350 cases within one week.
It added that the clashes had prevented the relatives of those killed from receiving the bodies from morgues.
Selim also said his organization could not send supplies to its personnel in Aden after internal flights were canceled to and from the city.
-Displacement-
As of Tuesday, many afflicted residents of Aden began fleeing to the central city of Taizz, which enjoys relative calm compared to Yemen's violence-ridden southern provinces.
"Hotels in Taizz have received hundreds of families from Aden and Sanaa," said Taizz hotel owner Mohamed Amin.
Before Tuesday, roads linking Aden to Taizz had been at the center of clashes between pro-Hadi vigilantes and Houthi militants, the latter of whom had begun advancing on Aden through the nearby Lahij province.
Hadi fled to Aden in late February after fleeing Houthi-held Sanaa in hopes of reinstating his embattled presidency from the southern city.
However, the Gulf-backed president fled again to Saudi capital Riyadh last month after Houthi militants struck his Aden residence.
Last week, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies began pounding Houthi positions across Yemen.
Riyadh says the strikes are in response to appeals by Hadi to "save the [Yemeni] people from the Houthi militias."
Yemen has remained in turmoil since last September, when the Houthis overran capital Sanaa, from which they have sought to extend their influence to other parts of the fractious country.
Some Gulf countries accuse Shiite Iran of supporting Yemen's Houthi insurgency.
