In a tiny village perched on a mountain in Yemen, all the doors are padlocked, a children’s swing hangs motionless and silence reigns after residents fled the shelling of pro-Iran Houthi fighters.
Like tens of thousands of people across Yemen who have fled their homes for less violent regions, the vast majority of residents of Al-Akad have left since the Houthis’ lightning offensive engulfed their village.
For now, only the bravest have returned, if only to check whether their homes are still standing.
“I came to check on our house and the houses of some of our neighbours and make sure they are safe,” said Abdallah Hassan Ahmed, one of just two residents an AFP journalist saw in the village.
He held out a large bunch of keys that he said his neighbours had left with him, adding it still wasn’t safe to return.
He recounted how he and his family fled under the bombs as Houthi fighters pressed their offensive in Al-Akad, situated on the side of a mountain 950 metres above sea level.
“Everyone just grabbed their children and left. We had no choice,” he told AFP.
Yemen, the region’s poorest country, relapsed into war in July after years of relative calm.
Fighting between the Houthis and Saudi-backed forces loyal to the internationally recognised government intensified dramatically in recent days, displacing more than 100,000 people, according to UN data.
The Houthis, who have for years controlled swathes of north Yemen, recently advanced at lightning speed into the south, seizing areas around the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which is crucial to global energy flows.
Further inland, in the Taiz region where Al-Akad sits, people cannot return to their villages because of the risk of shelling, according to Ahmed. As a result, the village’s alleyways remain deserted, and the colourful doors of home after home are locked shut.
Another resident named Basem Abdullah al-Nuwaihi also braved the journey to inspect his home.
“All the families are either in camps or neighbouring villages,” he told AFP.