Yemen frontline: fighting the Houthi rebels targeting Saudi Arabia | BBC News

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The civil war in Yemen began in 2014 when Houthi fighters backed by Iran gained control of the capital Sar. Since 2015, a Saudiled coalition has been trying with heavy air strikes to restore to power the internationally recognized government.

In recent weeks, the Houthis have seized the West Coast, although Saudibacked government forces have since retaken some of it. Our senior international correspondent, Ola Girin, reports from southern Yemen. Her report contains distressing images of injuries. Crossing the desert,

a remote battlefield in a civil war that is fast becoming a major regional threat. We traveled with Yemen's southern forces. Fighters loyal to the internationally recognized government. In this landscape of harsh beauty, they have regained some lost ground

and took us to see it. Here, the wreckage of a Houthy drone shot out of the sky. How much damage could this have done? Commander Ti Alhabun says it contained explosives and could kill 10 to 15 people. This

whole area has just been retaken by progovernment forces. They captured it about 3 days ago. Until then, the Houthis were in control here. They've been pushed back and we've been told that there are Houthi fighters in position up

in the mountains, about 500 of them. And since we've been here, the forces are keeping an eye on the sky just to make sure that there are no more drones coming. And here scenes from the battles in recent

days to retake this territory. No military precision in this desert campaign. Just a loose alliance of progovernment fighters, some of them barefoot. After we left the front lines, government reinforcements were heading in to a conflict that is now

impossible to ignore. Along the way, a tableau of suffering for some who have fled Houthy drones. The only shelter is the trees. Aisha tells me she's been here for 30 days with only the clothes she's wearing. No money,

no water, and no food. Yemen's civil war is casting a shadow well beyond its borders. The Houthis are a threat to international shipping and increasingly a threat to Saudi Arabia. But for their backers in Iran, they provide leverage.

In operating rooms in the city of Aiden, geopolitics feels remote. Night and day, doctors are treating wounded fighters. That includes [music] the enemy. This man is a Houthy, but most here are from the government side. Well, you get

a real sense here of how fierce the fighting is. This hospital alone has received 51 wounded fighters today. Every bed in the intensive [music] care unit is full. They've been arriving with gunshot wounds, with shrapnel. Some have had

limbs amputated, and the casualties keep coming. We've been told there are three more on the way. The battles in Yemen are ebbing and flowing with no clear victor, but plenty more trauma. For some, the war will always be

with them. Others are eager to return to the front lines. Ahmed Ali Mahmood hasn't lost his fighting spirit despite multiple fractures. I'm not waiting to be fully recovered, he told us. I just want to be able to stand.

I think it's a religious duty and a national duty. The Houthies have destroyed the country. In the next ward, 12year-old Alli, a new victim of an old war. He was injured by a drone and is now facing a

complicated surgery. There is shrapnel near his spine, says Dr. Amar Asakaf. The operation won't be easy, but God willing, our staff will be able to handle it. But will war follow Ali into adulthood? Orligeran, BBC News, Southern Yemen?