The city of Haradh was the economic lifeline for the people of Hajjah governorate and its neighboring governorates. It has the largest and most important border crossing in Yemen, making it an important artery for exporting agricultural and commercial products and for traveling overland to neighboring countries, to the point that Haradh was called “the city that never sleeps”, because of its location in this vital economic region.
It is an active area like other Hajjah border areas adjacent to Saudi Arabia with diverse financial resources. In addition, it has constituted an investment destination that has attracted many capital owners, for commercial and real estate investment.
In the past few years, the situation has changed due to the war and conflict in Yemen since 2015. Hajjah has suffered a large share of the tragedy of the war, at a time when many areas and districts of the governorate lack the most basic public services, especially the areas to which the people of the districts affected by the war and military battles have been displaced, such as hospitals, health centers, and schools.
The tragedy of Hajjah intensified mainly in the city of Haradh, which was turned into rubble by fierce battles, whose ruins are now inhabited by wild animals. Although the conflicts stopped two years ago, Haradh is still completely forgotten.
"We were displaced from our lands, properties, and businesses. Our homes were destroyed. We became displaced, losing our sources of income from farms and commercial properties in the city," says Ahmed Adel (pseudonym), one of the people of the city of Haradh, to “Khuyut”.
Adel adds: The movement of trade, exports, and imports stopped. The agricultural movement declined greatly. The wheel of life stopped completely, and the city that never sleeps has become empty and barren.
Therefore, many displaced people of Haradh hope that the diplomatic efforts, which have recently increased in pace and the current negotiations taking place, will lead to a comprehensive truce as a prelude to bringing peace to Yemen, so that this will be reflected in most of the cities and regions of the country, especially the affected ones, including Haradh and the Al-Tewal border crossing, because this will enable them to return to their homes after years in displacement camps since 2017.
“This was the situation of many of those whose sufferings and tragedies have varied and multiplied due to the war, conflict, and bombing. The residents of these areas are still suffering from homelessness and displacement, waiting for the relevant authorities to fulfill their responsibility in addressing their situations; or to conclude any agreement to establish peace in Yemen.”
At the same time, the citizen Naji Hizam, in his interview with “Khuyut”, hopes that their city will return to its former pre-war era, allowing him to return with all the displaced people to practice their normal lives in activating the economic movement, not only in the areas of Hajjah such as Haradh, but also in the various cities and regions of Yemen affected by the war.
While the citizen, Abdulkarim Mohammed, says that, as displaced people from Haradh, they are waiting for peace to be brought to pay attention to them and to their suffering, which has no limits and no description. For years, the residents of these areas have been living in a state of displacement after the war uprooted them from their cities and regions and stripped them of their jobs and livelihoods.
Searching for Livelihoods
Life in Hajjah areas becomes more difficult due to the difficulty of transportation and rough roads. They bear the hardship of traveling to distant cities for treatment and in order to obtain medicine, as well as the consequent costs and great burdens at all levels.
In this regard, Hassan Al-Yazidi, a resident of Hajjah, says to “Khuyut”: The patient's health may deteriorate even more during his travel to receive treatment, and some may even die before arriving there, while others refrain from doing so, for fear that the patient will die before arriving there.
The fifty-year-old Salem Ali (a pseudonym), a displaced person from the city of Haradh, tells “Khuyut”: We have become unable to bear any more burdens due to the difficult circumstances we are experiencing in all aspects of life and the severe suffering we are facing in providing for the needs of our families. We no longer have anything to support them or spend on them.
For his part, Abdulillah Harith says: Many of the people of our area died in Saada governorate while they were searching for a livelihood in the border areas. Thus, we became caught between two fires: the fire of displacement and the fire of searching for a livelihood.
In this context, “Khuyut” has followed and conveyed the suffering of the residents of Hajjah governorate due to the war and conflict in Yemen that have been going on since 2015. The suffering and the tragedy of their consequences were concentrated in some strategic areas of the governorate, the most important of which was Haradh, which was turned into a ghost town by the war, military battles, and bombing.
Likewise, it was also revealed in this regard through a previous report that; since the outbreak of the war in Yemen in March 2015, no Yemeni city has ever been empty of inhabitants —or almost—as happened in the city of Haradh, adjacent to the Saudi border in the northwest of Yemen. Throughout the years of the war, the city has turned into a closed field for the raging confrontations between the forces of the internationally recognized government and the fighters of the Ansar Allah group (Houthis). In parallel with these confrontations, extremely painful and profound human tragedies have been created, which, despite their horror, have not received media coverage.
In addition to what was monitored by organizations working in the field of human rights, such as the “Mwatana” organization, for the tragic situation in such areas, some of which were emptied of their residents as a result of the military battles that took place inside cities such as the city of Haradh. One of the displaced people from the city of Haradh, who resides currently in the teachers' housing of Al-Amjad School in the village of Jabal Al-Tarf in Al-Mahweet governorate, narrates his suffering with the displacement due to the battles that took place in the city of Haradh and the bombing of the military warplanes of the coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE. On one terrifying night, as a result of the bombing and heavy aircraft overflights, which caused panic among the people in the city at the time,
He says, “I forcefully pulled my wife and ran her away, and we quickly left for the car, which my brother had preceded us to. We fled with our lives, piled on top of each other on chairs, praying to God to avoid the bombing so that we could safely pass the targeted area.”
He continues: "Not a moment had passed before I heard my wife's voice screaming, asking for help, as she was nine months pregnant. This shocked me at that time, and she confirmed to me that it was the throes of childbirth."
This was the situation of many of those whose sufferings and tragedies have varied and multiplied due to war, conflict, and bombing. The residents of these areas are still suffering from homelessness and displacement, waiting for the relevant authorities to fulfill their responsibility in addressing their situations; or to conclude any agreement to establish peace in Yemen.
Closure of the Crossing and Forced Displacement
Many in Yemen agree that the governorates of the northwest of the country, Al-Hudaydah and Hajjah, and the various regions and districts in Tihamah are the poorest in Yemen, as their areas lack the most basic service projects, so they were and still are forgotten and deprived of attention.
On the other hand, agriculture is the only source of income for citizens in these areas. After the displacement of the people of the districts, such as Haradh, Midi, Hiran, and large parts of Abs, to the mountainous districts, the suffering increased due to the closure of the border crossing.
In this regard, Majdi Qaid, a journalist and a specialist in law, says to "Khuyut" that the war has doubled the suffering of the population in these areas, which have been suffering from chronic poverty for decades, as the authorities in the country have not paid attention to it over the past decades.
Qaid points out the hardship of life as a result in these areas, like in the other areas of Yemen. The war and conflict have caused many people to lose their sources of livelihoods and incomes based on agriculture and fishing. In addition to causing a tragic displacement movement, whose chapters and consequences have not stopped until now.
