30-day Houthi siege traps 1.5 million in Yemen's Taiz
The blockade has severed supply routes, driving up local costs and restricting hospital access for rural residents.
By Natalia Costa ·
A thirty-day Houthi siege has trapped approximately 1.5 million residents inside Taiz, a major city in southern Yemen, according to local officials. The blockade began when Houthi forces seized al-Turbah, a town in the governorate's southwest, which cut off the city's primary supply route to Aden and the rest of the world. As a result, hundreds of thousands of people in the area are facing shortages of essential goods.
The United Nations has warned of a catastrophe developing within the city limits. Supplies of food and medicine are diminishing rapidly. The siege also affects rural districts, where about 180,000 displaced people are stuck due to ongoing clashes along the main road connecting Lahj and Taiz. Houthi fighters have moved beyond their 2015 positions near the city outskirts, effectively encircling Taiz from the north, east, and south.
Salah Ahmed Ghaleb al-Majidi, the acting director of the governorate's Siege Affairs Department, described the current situation as the worst catastrophic siege on a Yemeni city since the war started in 2014. He noted that food, fuel, medical supplies, and water are failing to reach the city. Meanwhile, tons of rubbish are accumulating on the streets because they cannot be transported to landfills outside the blockade.
Al-Majidi stated that the closure of major access roads has consequences beyond just humanitarian aid. He explained that the disruption threatens family cohesion because residents cannot easily reach relatives. Families face severe difficulties moving between the countryside and the city as both main and secondary roads are cut off by Houthi checkpoints.
The economic impact has hit lower-income households hardest. Ahmed al-Mikhlafi, a resident who left Taiz for Umrah in Mecca before the fighting escalated, reported that the passenger fare from Aden to Taiz rose from 35 Saudi riyals to 100 Saudi riyals. His family spent two days waiting in a rural hotel, paying 100 Saudi riyals per night for a room shared with nine other women and their children. They eventually had to turn back at a Houthi checkpoint about 15 kilometers from the city entrance.
Health services have also been severely disrupted. Taysir al-Samei, the information officer at the governorate's health office, reported that access to the city's hospital fell by 60 to 70 percent by the second week of the siege. Hospitals are facing shortages of medical supplies and the fuel needed to run essential services. Residents are also unable to leave Taiz for treatment abroad, including a young journalist whose liver enzyme levels rose to 32 times the normal range.
The siege has prevented several patients from traveling to Cairo for specialized care. The journalist, who has suffered from chronic immune-related inflammation for years, said his condition worsened as Houthi forces approached the city center. His doctor warned him to seek urgent treatment abroad, but he remains trapped because the only exit is controlled by Houthi forces. He described leaving the city as almost impossible.
