Sanaa (AFP)

Muddy water continues to flow at the foot of the old city of Sanaa. Inhabited without interruption for more than 2,500 years, the district registered with the world heritage of Unesco suffers from serious floods after having known the pangs of war.

"Since dawn, we have been trying to clean the mud from the roofs and empty the water, but it is useless," Ali al-Ward, an old resident of the neighborhood with ocher brick houses, told AFP. and adobe and facades strewn with white moucharabieh.

"We are sleeping with fear in our stomachs. We are between life and death," the frail old man with the graying beard laments in the midst of gutted houses and walls that have become piles of earth.

Floods are common at this time of year in Yemen, the poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula, according to the UN, in the grip of the world's worst humanitarian crisis caused by the conflict between government forces and rebels. Houthis, who took Sanaa, the capital, in 2014.

But they are wreaking havoc this year. Since mid-July, they have killed at least 172 people across the country, according to official sources and local officials.

The torrential rains also damaged many UNESCO World Heritage sites in Sanaa and Chibam.

- "Melting" -

In the capital, 106 homes, including five in old Sana'a, were destroyed and 156 damaged, according to the Houthi health ministry.

"Our houses are made of adobe. We hope that the associations will find a solution for us," laments Mohammed al-Khamissi, a young resident of the old city.

The damage can also be explained by years of "neglect and lack of maintenance", notes Doaa al-Wassiei, head of the Authority for the Protection of Historic Towns.

"Sana'a is literally melting. The bombardments which hit the old houses weakened their foundations. The rain came to destroy what was left," the young woman, also a member of an association for the protection of heritage, told AFP. .

"Of course the budgets are limited because of the war but it is about our identity and just as we defend our country, we must defend our identity", she insists.

She wants more "coordination" and "support for youth and civil society initiatives", in a country where the work of those involved in the safeguarding of heritage is complicated by the collapse of the State and the dislocation of political authority.

The intervention in 2015 of a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia, to support the government against the Houthis, supported by Iran, worsened the situation in the country. Coalition aviation is accused of targeting civilians as well as historic sites.

The war has claimed tens of thousands of lives, according to various NGOs, and more than three million people have been displaced. About 24 million Yemenis - more than 80% of the population - depend on some form of humanitarian aid, according to the United Nations.

- "Unprecedented disaster" -

Located in the governorate of Hadramout, about 500 kilometers east of Sanaa, Chibam, a city also listed as a Unesco heritage, has not been spared from bad weather.

According to a local official, at least four houses were completely destroyed and fifteen damaged on this 16th-century site, nicknamed the "Manhattan of the desert" because of its adobe towers.

On site, workers are working hard to fill in the cracked walls.

"We paid particular attention to this city because it has an important historical interest", assures AFP Abdelwahab Abdallah ben Ali Jaber, in charge of the site.

"The city has been hit by what looks like an unprecedented disaster," he said.

Unesco has expressed its "regret" for the deaths and the damage caused, in particular to the sites listed as World Heritage.

"The climatic conditions threaten the survival of Yemen's unique cultural heritage," the organization warned in a statement, adding that it is mobilizing on the ground for "the restoration of houses and the strengthening of the capacities of local authorities".

strs-aem / mh / mdz

© 2020 AFP