The key facts

  • Yemen's army reported repelling a Houthi infiltration attempt on the Al-Akroud front in Taiz province
  • The Network for Rights and Freedoms documented 3 civilians killed and 19 wounded over 73 hours, along with 62 violations and 290 shellings of residential areas
  • The Houthis control most of the province; the escalation since July has left, according to the UN, 12,000 killed and wounded

Army statement and human rights data

Yemen's army reported that its forces, backed by popular resistance fighters, repelled an attempt by the Houthi group to infiltrate the Al-Akroud front in southern Taiz province after fierce clashes. According to military sources, the army's artillery struck Houthi gatherings, killing and wounding an unspecified number of their fighters. The Houthis did not comment on this statement.

Documented civilian casualties

The Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms published a report the same day documenting the deaths of three civilians and injuries to 19 people as a result of shelling and sniper attacks on residential neighborhoods of Taiz over the past 73 hours. The network's field team recorded 62 violations against civilians and civilian property, as well as 290 indiscriminate shells fired at populated areas and villages. Nine houses and seven civilian vehicles were damaged. The network also documented 16 cases of abduction and enforced disappearance of civilians, including patients, elderly people and two children, during Houthi raids on the Naj Qasim market in the Al-Misrakh district and the Al-Maqatera district in Al-Shamaytayn in the south of the province. The Houthis did not comment on this report either.

Situation in the province

Government forces control the city of Taiz — the provincial capital — and a number of other territories. At the same time, according to an Anadolu correspondent, the Houthis have in recent weeks advanced in rural and coastal areas, including Al-Mokha, Al-Shamaytayn, Al-Maafir, Jabal Habashi and Al-Waziya, and now control most of the province; government-controlled zones have shrunk, and some areas remain contested.

Strategic significance and scale of escalation

Taiz lies between the northern provinces, including Ibb and Sanaa, and the southern ones — Lahj and Aden: transport routes and supply lines linking the temporary capital Aden with the central and northern provinces pass through it. The province has access to the Red Sea coast, where the port of Al-Mokha is located near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Taiz is Yemen's most populous province, accounting for 12% of the country's population. The military escalation between government forces and the Houthis resumed in July and, according to the UN, has resulted in 12,000 killed and wounded, ending a period of relative calm that had lasted since April 2022. Yemen has been engulfed in war since September 2014, when the Houthis seized Sanaa and a number of provinces; in March 2015, an Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia intervened in support of the government.