ADEN: Taiz governorate in Yemen faces ongoing Houthi military escalation, increasing hardship for residents. Continued shelling targets residential areas, while tightened restrictions hinder civilian movement and block essential supplies.
Human rights reports document hundreds of civilian casualties and abductions, along with extensive damage to homes and vehicles.
The Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms recorded 1,891 crimes and violations by the Houthi group against civilians and civilian objects in the governorate from Sept. 1 to Oct. 22.
During this period, the network also recorded 21 additional crimes and violations within 24 hours and reported the firing of approximately 213 projectiles into residential areas.
In its report, "Taiz ... bloody invasion and systematic killing," the monitor stated these violations caused the deaths of 212 civilians, including 38 children (seven of whom were infants) and 27 women, and injuries to 319 civilians, including 29 children and 46 women.
The report documented 23 field executions, five massacres, and 314 cases of abduction and enforced disappearance, including 14 children held as hostages to pressure their families.
Additionally, 516 homes were raided in search of individuals suspected of links to government forces.
Houthi attacks damaged 356 homes, including 98 destroyed and three blown up.
According to the report, Houthi shelling and sniper fire also affected the villages of Kahlan, Al-Shaqb, and the old airport neighborhood.
The network reported that, in addition to casualties and destruction, the Houthis fired around 9,876 projectiles during the reporting period, tightened the siege on the governorate since September 3, and set up 26 illegal checkpoints and barriers.
The report accused the group of obstructing the entry of food, medicine, fuel, oxygen cylinders, and drinking water, and blocking relief convoys and commercial supplies, including medications for chronic diseases and child vaccines.
It warned that blocking fuel needed for generators in hospitals, cancer treatment centers, and kidney dialysis units threatens patients' lives, and noted that the escalation has displaced around 280,000 people from the governorate.
The network stated that the Houthis also converted five schools into operating rooms and detention centers.
The network called for Taiz to be declared a disaster city, for an end to the attacks, lifting of the siege, opening of roads, and guaranteed access to aid.
Yemeni government forces are intensifying counterattacks and warplanes are expanding strikes on Houthi positions across Taiz's countryside and the besieged city's outskirts.
In the latest developments, government forces targeted a command-and-control center and two tanks inside the abandoned Sofitel Hotel in Taiz, according to official spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces Majed Al-Nuzaili.
The Houthis had used the building as a launchpad to target civilians in the city, and that the strike aimed to disrupt this activity and protect residents, he added.
Government forces made advances in southern Taiz, carrying out counterattacks against the Houthis and amid clashes in Al-Shaqb and Al-Kahlan districts. The Houthis are reportedly sending more reinforcements to the area.