Houthis' Monthlong Siege on Taiz Creates Humanitarian Crisis for Trapped Yemenis

Taiz, Yemen – A week before the latest fighting erupted around Taiz, southern Yemen, Ahmed al-Mikhlafi departed the city with his wife and three children for Umrah in Mecca. Upon their return, the family found themselves stranded in the western countryside of Taiz, unable to access the city where their home and Ahmed’s employment were located. The Houthi siege on Taiz has now persisted for 30 days, impacting hundreds of thousands in the region. The United Nations has issued repeated warnings of an impending catastrophe within the city, where provisions of food and medicine are dwindling rapidly.

“While we were in Mecca, fighting broke out and our city was once again placed under a complete siege by the Houthis. We had no choice but to stay away and delay our return for more than two weeks, hoping the fighting would end and the siege would be lifted,” Ahmed, whose name has been shortened for security reasons, told Al Jazeera. “But things did not go as we had hoped, so we decided to return and face whatever awaited us, regardless of the consequences.”

The Houthi siege on Taiz commenced with the capture of al-Turbah, a town in the far southwest of Taiz governorate, severing the city’s primary route to Aden and the outside world. The Houthis had previously reached the outskirts of Taiz in 2015, after expelling the government from the capital, Sanaa, in September 2014, and subsequently besieging it from the north, east, and south. However, their recent occupation of the governorate’s western countryside has resulted in the complete encirclement of the city.

The blockade affects the 1.5 million residents of Taiz City, as well as others in the governorate’s rural districts, including approximately 180,000 displaced individuals also trapped by ongoing clashes along the main road connecting Lahj and Taiz.

One month into the siege, Salah Ahmed Ghaleb al-Majidi, acting director of the governorate’s Siege Affairs Department, characterized the situation as “the worst catastrophic siege imposed on a Yemeni city since the war began in 2014”. Food, fuel, medical supplies, and water are failing to reach the city, leading to the accumulation of tonnes of rubbish on the streets, unable to be transported to landfill sites outside.

Al-Majidi stated that the closure of major access roads has had repercussions extending far beyond the disruption of humanitarian supplies of food, medicine, and fuel to the city. “The impact has reached deep into local communities, threatening family cohesion,” he informed Al Jazeera. Families have encountered severe difficulties in reaching relatives due to both main and secondary roads between the Taiz countryside and the city being obstructed by the Houthis.

Ahmed and his family experienced this impact directly. After returning from Saudi Arabia to Aden, he and his family boarded a shared passenger vehicle bound for Taiz. However, with the primary Hayjat al-Abd–al-Turbah route blocked, the passengers were compelled to take a difficult secondary road to the city. “We passed through nearly 20 new checkpoints that the Houthis had recently established after taking control of the western countryside of Taiz,” Ahmed recounted. “At around midday, approximately 15 kilometres before reaching the final entrance to the city, a Houthi checkpoint stopped us.” The family found themselves at the end of a long line of vehicles heading for the city. “They told us there were clashes along the road and ordered us to turn back and return the following day, when they would reconsider allowing us through if the fighting had stopped,” he added.

Ahmed’s wife, known as Umm Adam, described the route to Taiz as perilous. “When we decided to return in the middle of the fighting, we knew perfectly well that it was a risky decision, especially with our children, the youngest of whom is not yet five years old,” she told Al Jazeera. “But we had no choice. There were no other options.” The family spent an additional two days waiting in a small rural hotel before they could continue their journey. “There were nine women crammed into a single room with our [three] children, while the men were placed in another room,” Umm Adam stated. “And despite all that, we had to pay 100 Saudi riyals ($26.66) for every night we suffered through in that hotel,” her husband added.

The siege on Taiz has led to a sharp increase in the prices of goods and services, disproportionately affecting lower-income Yemenis. “When we left the city for Aden, before the fighting resumed, we paid just 35 Saudi riyals [$9.33] per passenger. But when we returned, we were surprised to find that the fare had risen to 100 Saudi riyals [$26.66] per passenger,” Ahmed said.

The Houthi siege has also obstructed residents of the rural areas surrounding Taiz from accessing health facilities within the city. Taysir al-Samei, the information officer at the governorate’s health office, informed Al Jazeera that access to the city’s hospitals had decreased by 60 to 70 percent by the end of the siege’s second week. Hospitals in Taiz are experiencing severe shortages of medical supplies due to the conflict, coupled with a lack of fuel necessary to maintain essential services.

Residents within the city have also been prevented from leaving Taiz for medical treatment abroad. Among the patients unable to travel internationally is a young journalist, identified by the initials “T F”, who spoke to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity. He has suffered for years from chronic immune-related inflammation affecting his liver enzymes and previously sought treatment in Cairo from a specialist familiar with his condition. However, the Houthi siege has altered this situation. “Recently, as the Houthi offensive began on the outskirts of Taiz and along the western coast, my illness worsened, so I decided to travel for treatment,” he said. “I had already contacted my specialist and started making preliminary flight reservations.” By the time Houthi forces neared the city center, his health had further deteriorated, and laboratory tests revealed his liver enzyme levels had reached a critical point, exceeding normal ranges by 32 times. Alarmed by these results, his doctor advised him to seek urgent medical treatment abroad. However, due to his media reporting that opposes the Houthis, the young journalist stated that departing the city would be “almost impossible”. “The only exit is now in the hands of the enemy,” he concluded.