A countryside dam outside the Yemeni capital Sanaa provides the city's residents with a rare distraction from the six-year civil war that has left many facing poverty and hunger.

Jet skis and small boats ply the water. Children scream and shout with joy as they jump in and out of the lake, a one-hour car journey from Sanaa.

"Families and children find relief in this place and take some respite from city congestion," said Muhammad Ismail Zabibah who escaped the crowds of the capital, which have swelled in recent years as people flee violence elsewhere in Yemen.

Sanaa and most of northern Yemen is currently held by the Houthi movement, which ousted the internationally recognised government from power in late 2014, prompting a Saudi Arabian-led military coalition to intervene.