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Fear in Yemen City as Houthis Surround 10/13 06:25
CAIRO (AP) -- As word came of Houthi rebels closing in, Weam Abdullah and
her family decided it was time to leave their home in Taiz, Yemen's third
largest city. They had survived a yearslong siege by the rebels earlier in
their country's civil war, and they didn't want to endure that again.
They made it out just in time: Just after Abdullah, her husband and two
young children left, the rebels on Oct. 4 captured a key town, largely
encircling the city and cutting off most access to supplies from
government-held areas.
"We already feel dead, there was already despair" in the city, Abdullah
said, speaking by phone to The Associated Press from a province further south.
"We feel as if we are cursed. Everyone is conspiring against us even though
we're not affiliated with any party or politics."
The Iranian-backed Houthis -- even as they escalate attacks on Saudi Arabia
with a string of deadly attacks on the airport in the capital Riyadh -- are
trying to make a major gain in Yemen's 12-year-old civil war by moving on Taiz,
a prize they have long sought to capture. Their assault comes after the rebels'
lightning offensive last month that seized Yemen's Red Sea coast, strengthening
their hand to attack Saudi oil shipping and further throwing world energy
prices into turmoil..
Their advance has triggered fear among the more than 1 million residents of
Taiz, located in the high rugged mountains of southwestern Yemen. On a recent
day, crowds mobbed groceries in the city center to buy up food and other
essentials, fearing they will soon run out. Deisel fuel and cooking gas
supplies are running low, residents said.
Some people are collecting cardboard and wood to burn for cooking, and
merchants are jacking up prices for food and water, said Shaif al-Gabiri, a
child protection consultant at a local non-profit group, the Civic Center for
Advocacy and Support. "If the siege continues, then these stocks will run out."
Explosions can be heard in the distance from fighting between Houthis and
pro-government forces in the surrounding mountains. Some strikes have landed in
the city itself, reminding residents of the hell they lived through previously
and had hoped might be over.
Taiz was under siege for years by the Houthis earlier in the war
Taiz has been a front line ever since Yemen's civil war erupted in 2014 when
the Houthi rebels seized the north and much of the west of the country,
including the capital Sanaa. Saudi Arabia then entered the war heaading a
coalition backing the internationally recognized government, which was forced
to flee south.
Taiz is a strategic gateway to the south. It is also one of Yemen's most
important historical and cultural centers, serving centuries ago as the capital
of several Islamic dynasties and as a major site for religious learning.
Al-Qahira Castle, a monumental fortress dating back more than 800 years, stands
on a hill overlooking the city. Towering south of the city is Mount Sabir, one
of Yemen's highest ranges at more than 3,000 meters (9,000 feet), cut with
agricultural terraces yielding fertile farmlands.
For years after 2015, Houthi forces surrounded most of the city and cut off
main roads out. Bombardment regularly hit the city center, electricity was
often cut off, and residents struggled to find food. Access to government-held
areas was only through steep, winding mountain back roads that took hours to
bring in supplies or get people to hospitals in the main southern port city of
Aden.
Taiz at that time was "a jungle," Abdullah said. If people didn't die "from
artillery, then they would die from the siege, malnourished because of lack of
food," she said. After nightfall, "many streets were deserted and looked scary."
A truce reached in 2022 quieted the war across Yemen and returned some life
to Taiz. Many who fled the city came back, and homes were rebuilt. But prices
remained high, and residents struggled to get by, Abdullah said. Houthi forces
still controlled north, east and west of the city, and charged "customs" duties
to let supplies through.
New fighting has broken the quiet
The truce fell apart in August when the Houthis launched a new assault. Last
month, they seized the Red Sea coast, capturing the port city of Mocha and
several strategic islands. Since then, the Houthis began advancing around Taiz.
Abdullah said they feared that a new siege would be even worse than the
past. Her children were afraid to go outside and play, she said. "This is why
we left," she said. "The situation was terrible, you couldn't get essentials,
and there's a shortage in everything ... There is no diesel to work water
pumps."
On the road out of Taiz, she said they saw government reinforcements moving
in and heard the sounds of explosions and gunfire. They made it through the
town of Turbah, about 40 kilometers (24 miles) south of Taiz, and from there to
the government-controlled province of Lahj.
Only days later, the Houthis captured Turbah, encircling Taiz and a pocket
of government-held territory.
Residents prepare for seige as government forces try to break Houthi hold
Along with the main roads out ot Taiz, some of the alternative mountain
routes used the past have also been shut down.
The closures "caused some confusion and panic," Abdelrahman al-Qaliaa,
director of the Taiz branch of the Industry and Trade Ministry, told the AP. He
called on the people rushing the stores to only buy immediate necessities to
prevent shortages.
Pro-government forces are fighting Houthis in the mountains southwest of
Taiz, trying to break the rebels' hold.
Ahmed Abdel-Jaber said shelling hit near his house in one mountain village,
wounding his 7-year-old grandson with shrapnel to his stomach. The boy was
rushed to a hospital in Taiz.
Abdel-Jaber said he moved his nine-member family to another village farther
from the fighting. "If we decide it's unsafe there, we'll flee to another
area," he told the AP by phone.
Government soldiers and women and children wounded in the fighting have been
brought in increasing numbers to Taiz hospitals. "Hospitals could run out of
diesel at any point" and it has become more difficult to deliver medical
supplies, said Dr. Fahd Nazary, of the Taiz provincial health office. "This is
a huge catastrophe."
Al-Gabiri, the child protection consultant who is currently in Taiz, spoke
of the fear that fighting could get even worse.
"Here I am sitting in a coffeeshop," she said, "knowing that at any moment a
shell could fall on me or an explosive could come from any direction, hitting
any house and any street."
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