Geneva: Renewed fighting between Iran-backed Houthi militia and pro-government forces in southwest Yemen has forced nearly 20,000 people to flee their homes, the International Organization for Migration said on Tuesday. Last week the militia launched a new offensive targeting areas bordering the Bab al-Mandab strait -- a gateway to the Red Sea that has gained significance since Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz in the months-long Middle East war. Clashes have killed more than 300 people since Thursday, driving many families to flee, according to sources from both sides who spoke to AFP. “We are deeply alarmed by the escalating violence on Yemen’s West Coast, which had up to yesterday displaced more than 18,500 people”,” Abdusattor Esoev, the IOM’s chief of mission in Yemen, told reporters from Aden. The UN agency said in a statement that “the number of displaced people is rising by the hour” as people continue to arrive at displacement sites. The Houthis have been at war with the government since 2015 in a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of people, while millions have been displaced in what the UN calls the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis.