Yemen’s internationally recognised government has warned of an “imminent health and humanitarian catastrophe” in Taiz, where it says hospitals are running out of medicine and fuel under a renewed Houthi siege. Both sides claim gains in the fighting. One analyst says roughly a million people are trapped.
Yemen’s Ministry of Public Health and Population said on Saturday, October 10, that medicines, intravenous fluids, medical supplies and fuel at hospitals in Taiz were “nearing depletion”, Al Jazeera reported on October 11.
What the Ministry Warned
- Emergency care, surgery, intensive care, dialysis and neonatal services could be forced to stop
- Patients, injured people, pregnant women and newborns would be “at immediate risk”
- Fuel shortages threaten generators, ambulances and the cold chains that keep medicines and vaccines usable
The ministry demanded that the siege be lifted immediately, supply routes reopened and safe passage granted to patients, ambulances, health workers and aid. It asked the UN and aid groups to deliver medicines, oxygen and fuel. “Every delay increases the risk of service interruption and loss of life,” it said.
How the Siege Came About
- In September the Houthis launched an offensive along the Red Sea coast of Taiz governorate and captured the port city of Mocha
- By October 4 they had taken the town of At Turbah, cutting the last main road between Taiz city and other government-held areas
- Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces began a counteroffensive in early October
Al Jazeera’s reporter in Sanaa described Taiz as a “major battleground”, with both sides claiming to be gaining ground. He confirmed that Mocha, the district of Dhubab and Bab al-Mandeb remain under Houthi control.
The Human Cost
Nabil Jamil, an official in the Taiz governorate, said the current siege is “more comprehensive and its impact more severe than in 2015”. He said about 2.8 million people live in government-held areas of the governorate, along with 200,000 recently displaced. Fuel is scarce and black-market petrol prices have risen sharply.
Adam Baron of the New America think tank said Taiz could become “the real game changer” in the conflict, but that the siege on Yemen’s third-largest city “leaves roughly a million people trapped, creating real risks of a devastating humanitarian crisis”.
A Familiar Pattern
Taiz endured a devastating Houthi siege in 2015–2016, which was broken in 2016, although the Houthis kept a partial blockade through other routes. A route from the east that the Houthis agreed to reopen in 2024 has been closed since fighting resumed.
Image: The city of Taiz, Yemen, 2013 (file photo). Photo: Rod Waddington / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
