Saeed Kh. cuts dry tree branches to provide firewood to his household so that his wife prepares a meal for his nine-member family.
The 70-year-old man cannot afford to buy an 8,000 Riyal (around $14.5) gas canister from the black market of Yemen's Ibb governorate.
Like Saeed, many Yemenis living in the Houthi-controlled governorate, are forced to rely on firewood, saying the militias have made billions of Riyals in profits after raising the canister's price in the black market.
Located about 200 km south of Sanaa, Ibb has been under Houthi control since 2014.
Aziza Al-Fazii, who is in her 60s, and several women from the city of al-Adeen head out to collect firewood because they can no longer afford cylinders for home gas usage.
Mahmoud al-Rifai, another resident from Ibb, says the black market was revived several months ago after stations stopped selling gas canisters.
“Who provides the black market with gas? Where do gas tanker trucks that arrive daily from Maarib to the center of the governorate go?” Rifai asks.
Ahmad Mohssen, an expert in economic affairs, blamed gas station owners for the crisis, saying most of them are members of the Houthi group.
“They have caused the crisis to control the market and enforce new prices on gas canisters,” he said.
“They aim to make huge profits by opening black markets across the governorate,” Mohssen added.
Abdullah al-Habishi, another resident from the governorate, said a handful of merchants have monopoly over the gas market.
According to official data, the Ibb branch of the Yemen Gas Company provides the governorate through agents with 8,000-10,000 gas cylinders daily for 1,700 Riyals each.
The agents then resell the gas canisters for 2,000 Riyals each.
But residents assert that Houthis have caused the gas crisis to sell the cylinder 300 times more than its original price.
