Nearly 86,000 flee fighting in Yemen: UN

GENEVA, Sept 13: Flaring fighting between government forces and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen has displaced nearly 86,000 people, the United Nations said Sunday, with the number surging by 10,000 from a day earlier.

Tens of thousands have taken flight in the wake of a week-long Houthi offensive that culminated in the group capturing the remainder of Yemen's Red Sea coast and several strategic islands, cementing their hold on the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait.

"Displacement in Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country, has now reached 85,818 people," the International Organization for Migration said in a statement, a day after putting the number of people displaced since July at 76,000.�"AFP