Yemen crisis deepens as 800,000 unable to get aid in Taiz

Yemen's humanitarian crisis, already one of the worst in the world, is deepening as fighting intensifies between government forces backed by Saudi Arabia and the Iran-supported Houthi rebels. The conflict has escalated in recent weeks after Houthi attacks on Saudi oil facilities, with government troops hitting back.

The United Nations says more than two million children in Yemen are already malnourished. It says more than 800,000 people are now unable to get aid, most of them in the city of Taiz, which is under siege by the Houthis.

In Aden, families have fled the front lines through barren desert, many on foot. Around 250,000 people have left the front lines in the latest round of fighting, a crisis within a crisis. At a camp on the edge of the city, named Alfredo's camp, a name that refers to paradise, the reality is anything but. There is relative safety and food, but not enough. Yemen's beleaguered government was not expecting so many people so fast.

Ahmed Mubarak is newly arrived. He outran the war but not the trauma. He said there was street fighting, and constant missile strikes and shelling made them afraid for the children. They tried to hide, and in the end they crawled away, he said. In every tent there is a story. Under the canvas there is new life, but Reem is too weary to lift her head or hold her baby girl, Asma, born just a day before. War looms over mother and daughter.

Yemen is already the poorest country in the Arab world, and help can be hard to find. In a hospital in Aden, Josh Hassan, a shepherd from the mountains and a worried father of five, walks the corridors. His youngest are twins, a girl called Raghad and a boy called Rad. They are premature, malnourished and clinging to life. He said the family feeds them twice a day with whatever they can give them, whatever is available. Sometimes they only get water. Hunger has ravaged their tiny bodies, leaving skin and bone. Rad is the weakest and is barely bigger than the nurse's hands.

The brother and sister have been fighting their own battle since the day they were born. They are admitted, bundled up and sharing a bed. Their mother, Lina, said they got weaker and weaker as the family fled Houthi forces, walking for three days. Asked if she has hope that the twins will recover now that they are in hospital, she said, God willing, things are better than before for the girl, but not for the boy. He is even worse. The twins are now receiving care and will be fed every three hours. Their mother is extremely worried about what will happen when they leave hospital. They cannot go back to their village because of the fighting, and she says they have nowhere else to go. Like so many Yemeni families, they have been made homeless by the war. The rest of the family waited in the reception area but were not allowed to sleep there, so they spent the night on the street.

As the conflict spreads in Yemen, civilian suffering is intensifying. Beyond the country's borders, the regional impact is growing. Houthi forces are continuing to strike critical infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, particularly airports and oil fields. The Saudi oil giant Aramco reportedly told its staff to evacuate its headquarters building and work from home. The Houthis know these attacks are not just damaging to Saudi Arabia. They send a ripple around the Middle East and around the world because of concerns about global oil supply. The Houthis, who are backed and supplied by Iran, appear to have no shortage of weapons.