Residents of Yemen’s Taiz said on Thursday (October 15) that a renewed Houthi siege was worsening living conditions, with rubbish piling up in streets, fuel running short and essential supplies becoming increasingly difficult to obtain.
Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, has been a major frontline in the conflict between the Iran-aligned Houthi movement and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government. Fighting intensified last month following the US-Iran confrontation in the Gulf, and the Houthis cut off a main road connecting Taiz to Aden last week, leaving government forces encircled.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said conditions in Taiz had deteriorated significantly in recent days, with people, basic supplies and humanitarian goods unable to enter the city, driving up prices.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Wednesday (October 14) that the city’s remaining food supplies might not last long if access restrictions continued. More than 600,000 people in Taiz depend on aid, including over 200,000 children, it said.
The renewed siege has revived concerns over conditions that have plagued Taiz through much of Yemen’s civil war. Houthi forces have long surrounded large parts of the city and blocked major roads, leaving residents dependent on steep, winding mountain routes to reach government-held areas. Transporting supplies and taking patients to hospitals in the southern port city of Aden could take hours.
During earlier phases of the conflict, bombardments regularly struck the city centre, power cuts were frequent and residents struggled to find food. A truce reached in 2022 eased fighting and allowed some displaced residents to return and rebuild their homes, but high prices and restrictions on supply routes continued to burden households.
Houthi forces retained control of areas north, east and west of Taiz and charged duties on goods passing through, residents said.
The worsening humanitarian situation in Yemen comes as Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia intensify and the Saudi-led coalition steps up its military campaign against the group.
Attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh have killed 17 people and injured 333 since October 1, with the airport targeted 20 times over the two weeks, the Saudi-led coalition said on Thursday.
At a press conference in Riyadh, coalition spokesman Turki Al-Maliki outlined military operations against Houthi targets in Yemen and presented footage of strikes on sites inside the country, including missile launch platforms and drones.
Al-Maliki said the Houthis had received assistance from what he described as “regional parties”. He also accused the group of using some civilian and energy facilities to support military operations, including by providing cover for missiles and drones.
Coalition forces had recently destroyed 127 Houthi weapons depots in mountainous areas, along with numerous missile launch systems, in an effort to weaken the group’s military capabilities, he said.
Al-Maliki called on the Houthis to stop attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, including airports, ports and oil installations. Saudi Arabia also reiterated its support for Yemen’s internationally recognised government and armed forces.
In an earlier statement, the coalition said sites in Sanaa, including Al-Sabah central station, underground fuel reserves, storage tanks and fuel transport and unloading facilities, were being repurposed for military use.
The coalition also said on Thursday that it had intercepted and destroyed a cruise missile over the Medina region and a drone over Khamis Mushait.
The Houthis denied carrying out any attack towards Saudi territory that day. In a separate statement, the group accused the Saudi-led coalition of striking a telecommunications facility and a school in Yemen’s Taiz province on Thursday morning. Saudi authorities had not responded to that allegation at the time of the report.
Yemen’s conflict began in late 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and large parts of the north. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 in support of the internationally recognised government, which had been forced to flee south.
Taiz, a strategic gateway to southern Yemen, has remained a major battleground since the early stages of the war. The city is also an important historical and cultural centre, known for landmarks such as Al-Qahira Castle, a fortress more than 800 years old, and the terraced slopes of Mount Sabir.
Years of fighting and restrictions on road access have repeatedly disrupted daily life. Although the 2022 truce brought a period of relative calm, residents continued to face high prices and difficult access to supplies.
The latest road closure and renewed fighting have again raised fears that a city already dependent on humanitarian assistance could face worsening shortages of food, fuel and other essentials.
(With agency inputs from Reuters and AP via PTI)