The key facts
- Around 30 Halo Trust sappers are stuck in besieged Taiz; all supply routes are blocked
- The Houthis claimed a strike on a Saudi operations center in Aden; Riyadh has not confirmed it
- 600,000 people in Taiz depend on aid, over 200,000 displaced — according to UN figures
Sappers under blockade
The Halo Trust organization said on Wednesday that about 30 of its sappers remain among hundreds of thousands of civilians in the Houthi-besieged city of Taiz. The Houthis have surrounded the government-held city, and the blockade, according to the organization, has effectively cut off the last mountain route connecting Taiz with the temporary capital Aden. The Taiz region is heavily mined. All supply routes are blocked; humanitarian organizations warn of dwindling stocks of food, water, medicine and fuel. One of the organization's employees is stuck outside the city and cannot reunite with his children.
Statements and the situation
Head of Halo Trust's Yemen program Maria van der Kamp said: 'Behind this siege are real people facing an impossible choice. Our staff are stuck in Taiz, separated from their families and not knowing when they will see their loved ones. The longer the siege continues, the greater the suffering of civilians who have nowhere safe to turn.'
Escalation in the region
On Wednesday, the Houthis claimed a ballistic missile strike on a Saudi operations center in Aden; Saudi Arabia has not confirmed the attack. Last Thursday, Houthi rockets at the Presidential Palace in Aden killed five people, and on Monday the government confirmed the deaths of at least 73 people in a strike on a military training camp in Shabwa.
Conflict context
Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen's civil war in 2015 on the government's side after the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa, fearing growing Iranian influence. In 2022, the UN brokered a truce that held until this year. Saudi Arabia has resumed its military campaign in support of the internationally recognized government, seeking to reverse recent Houthi gains, as the Houthis advanced last month along the Red Sea coast to the strategic Bab al-Mandeb strait.
Humanitarian situation
The EU called on the Houthis to lift the siege of Taiz, and the Yemeni government appealed to the UN with a call for urgent action to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe. According to the UN, at least 600,000 people in Taiz depend on aid, including more than 200,000 children. The International Organization for Migration said that since fighting began in recent weeks, more than 200,000 people have fled their homes.
