(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Water and power cuts, food shortages and a total lack of security-Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's former southern stronghold Aden is descending into chaos.
Deadly clashes between local militia fighters and Houthi Shia rebels, who have seized much of the country, are taking a heavy toll on residents in the port city.
"I haven't opened for five days and eventually I'll go bankrupt," said Abdu Messad who has a small shop in Dar Saad on the outskirts of the city of around 800,000 people.
"Even when the clashes calm down we're too afraid to open because of looters roaming the area," he added.
About 100 people have been killed in several days of clashes in Aden, and Hadi's aides have said he has no immediate plan to return there from his new base in Saudi Arabia.
Aden residents were for months largely isolated from the turmoil that gripped other parts of Yemen after the Houthis swept down from their northern stronghold and overran the capital in September.
But they have gradually been sucked into the conflict, particularly after Hadi fled to the southern city from the rebel-held capital in February.
Since the president left Aden last week and resurfaced in Riyadh, clashes have broken out every night in Dar Saad in the north of Aden on the road to the southwestern city of Taez.
The Houthis have taken over the local government headquarters in Dar Saad while their rivals have blocked off the road with boulders and toppled streetlights.
According to residents, weapons fire is routinely heard once night falls, with the Houthis firing the guns of the two battle tanks they control.
On the opposite side, troops fight back with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades.
The closure of the road to Taez has severed one of the main supply lines into Aden, creating shortages of essential commodities.
In the city centre, a massive explosion on Saturday in a weapons depot targeted by looters left at least 14 dead and damaged a major water tower, cutting off supplies to several neighbourhoods.
In a country awash with weapons even in normal times, armed men of unknown affiliation control the streets. Inside the safety of homes, meanwhile, power cuts can last six hours a day, or longer.
"Apart from water and electricity cuts, I can't renew my stock of medicines anymore," said a doctor from the Crater district, Abdel al-Raquib Yafii.
Just a week ago, the city was buzzing with rumours of infiltration by the Shia rebels, who had previously been largely confined to northern and central Yemen.
But residents were reassured by the presence of Hadi in his palace, perched on a volcanic mound overlooking the sea.
Then on March 19 a warplane targeted the palace, leading to Hadi's evacuation to a "safe place".
After another strike five days later, the president left for the Saudi capital.
Before long the Houthi presence in Aden was confirmed with their attempt to take over the city's international airport, which was repelled by local militia known as the "popular committees".
Houthi fire damaged the control tower, the VIP lounge and another building.
With many streets deserted, the morale of residents has begun to ebb.
"The future is bleak. The law is not respected," said lawyer Abdullah Gahtane.
"I am seriously considering closing my office and looking for work elsewhere."
Doctors struggle as wounded pour into hospital
Reuters/Aden
As Houthi fighters close in on the Yemen port city of Aden, the wounded from clashes and other incidents are pouring into overwhelmed hospitals.
"We were not ready to face this kind of situation," said Valerie Pierre, co-ordinator for aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), which runs a 45-bed hospital in Aden.
"The competency is there, but in terms of the number of staff, it's not enough."
Many of the victims are young men wounded by gunshots or bomb shrapnel. Not all injuries were directly sustained in combat.
One young man arrived in a van which screeched into the courtyard of the MSF hospital, where medics waited with stretchers.
He was the victim of a quarrel with two armed men near a taxi stand after he refused to give up his own rifle before boarding. The bullet only grazed his forehead.
Doctors at the hospital have struggled to cope with more than 250 patients from Aden and nearby provinces in the 10 days since Iranian-backed Houthi fighters and allied army units pushed to Aden's gates in a campaign to topple Western-backed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
Saddam Saleh Jaber, 25, said he had been operated on three times since gunmen claiming to be from Al Qaeda shot him in the leg below the knee while they tried to break into the traffic department in the nearby city of Lahj, where he worked as a guard.
"I am due for a fourth surgery," said Jaber, a police cadet who had been on leave when the advance on Aden began. "I am lucky not only to be alive but also that I ran into a Medicine Sans Frontiers team after I was shot," he added.
The latest victims suffered from shrapnel wounds and severe burns caused by the explosion of Aden's main arms depot as looters tried to break in and grab weapons.
At least 15 people were killed in the series of blasts which scattered debris across town and belched out plumes of smoke.
Two of the victims died at the Medicine Sans Frontiers hospital and staff were preparing the bodies for burial before handing them over to their families.
Medics say the main challenges facing the team of nearly 150 mostly local staff are the security of the hospital and maintaining medical supplies.
"Everything is OK now, but if things get worse we will need supplies. We need an emergency team to reach us, either from Sanaa or from Paris," Pierre said.
State institutions have been paralysed by the war while seaports and airports remain shuttered since the bombing began.
The exhausted medics admit being confused by the array of armed groups and the political upheaval that has rocked the country.
But the hospital remains open to all.
"We never ask who they are or who they belong to," said Pierre. "Only, armed men are kindly asked to remain outside."
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