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Yemen frontline fighting the Houthi rebels targeting Saudi Arabia · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: The civil war in Yemen began in 2014 when Houthi
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  Speaker 1: fighters backed by Iran gained control of the capital, Sana'a.
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  Speaker 1: Since 2015, a Saudi-led coalition has been trying, with heavy airstrikes,
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  Speaker 1: to restore to power the internationally recognised government. In recent weeks,
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  Speaker 1: the Houthis have seized the West Coast, although Saudi-backed government
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  Speaker 1: forces have since retaken some of it. Our senior international correspondent,
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  Speaker 1: Ola Geeran, reports from southern Yemen. Her report contains distressing
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  Speaker 1: images of injuries.
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  Speaker 2: Crossing the desert, a remote battlefield in a civil war
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  Speaker 2: that is fast becoming a major regional threat. We travelled
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  Speaker 2: with Yemen's southern forces, fighters loyal to the internationally recognised government.
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  Speaker 2: In this landscape of harsh beauty... They have regained some
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  Speaker 2: lost ground and took us to see it. Here, the
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  Speaker 2: wreckage of a Houthi drone shot out of the sky.
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  Speaker 2: How much damage could this have done? Commander Tawfiq al-Haboun
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  Speaker 2: says it contained explosives. We see four. and could kill
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  Speaker 2: 10 to 15 people. This whole area has.
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  Speaker 1: Just been retaken by pro-government forces.
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  Speaker 2: They captured it about three days ago. Until then, the
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  Speaker 2: Houthis were in control here. They've been pushed back, and
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  Speaker 2: we've been told that there are Houthi fighters in position
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  Speaker 2: up in the mountains, about 500 of them. And since
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  Speaker 2: we've been here, the forces are keeping an eye on
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  Speaker 2: the sky just to make sure that there are no
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  Speaker 2: more drones coming. And here, scenes from the battles in
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  Speaker 2: recent days to retake this territory. No military precision in
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  Speaker 2: this desert campaign. Just a loose alliance of pro-government fighters,
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  Speaker 2: some of them barefoot. After we left the front lines,
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  Speaker 2: government reinforcements were heading in to a conflict that is
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  Speaker 2: now impossible to ignore. Along the way, a tableau of suffering.
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  Speaker 2: For some who have fled Houthi drones... The only shelter
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  Speaker 2: is the trees. Aisha tells me she's been here for
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  Speaker 2: 30 days with only the clothes she's wearing. No money,
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  Speaker 2: no water and no food. Yemen's civil war is casting
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  Speaker 2: a shadow well beyond its borders. The Houthis are a
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  Speaker 2: threat to international shipping and increasingly a threat to Saudi Arabia.
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  Speaker 2: But for their backers in Iran, they provide leverage. In
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  Speaker 2: operating rooms in the city of Aden, geopolitics feels remote.
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  Speaker 2: Night and day, doctors are treating wounded fighters. That includes
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  Speaker 2: the enemy. This man is a Houthi, but most here
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  Speaker 2: are from the government side. Well, you get a real
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  Speaker 2: sense here of how fierce the fighting is. This hospital
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  Speaker 2: alone has received 51 wounded fighters today. Every bed in
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  Speaker 2: the intensive care unit is full. They've been arriving with
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  Speaker 2: gunshot wounds, with shrapnel. Some have had limbs amputated. And
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  Speaker 2: the casualties keep coming. We've been told there are three
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  Speaker 2: more on the way. The battles in Yemen are ebbing
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  Speaker 2: and flowing with no clear victor but plenty more trauma.
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  Speaker 2: For some, the war will always be with them. Others
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  Speaker 2: are eager to return to the front lines. Ahmed Ali
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  Speaker 2: Mahmoud hasn't lost his fighting spirit, despite multiple fractures. I'm
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  Speaker 2: not waiting to be fully recovered, he told us. I
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  Speaker 2: just want to be able to stand. I think it's
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  Speaker 2: a religious duty and a national duty. The Houthis have
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  Speaker 2: destroyed the country. In the next ward, 12-year-old Ali, a
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  Speaker 2: new victim of an old war. He was injured by
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  Speaker 2: a drone and is now facing a complicated surgery. There
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  Speaker 2: is shrapnel near his spine, says Dr Amr Asakaf. The
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  Speaker 2: operation won't be easy, but God willing our staff will
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  Speaker 2: be able to handle it. But will war follow Ali
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  Speaker 2: into adulthood? Orla Gearan, BBC News, Southern Yemen.