A legal center has revealed that more than three thousand civilians have been killed in the Yemeni city of Taiz due to Houthi attacks during their nine-year siege. Additionally, over six thousand have been injured, accusing the group of committing widespread violations including kidnapping, torture, and restricting access to food.
The American Center for Justice, a US-based rights organization, stated that the Houthi group was responsible for the deaths of 3,021 civilians and injuries to 6,361 others, including women and children, in the province of Taiz (southwest). These casualties were a result of sniping, direct shelling of the city, and landmines, from March 2015 to December 2023.
In a recent report titled “The Siege of Taiz: A Humanitarian Tragedy,” the center noted that the Houthis detained 477 individuals, and 79 were subjected to enforced disappearances, with 59 others tortured, captured, or abducted from alternative routes.
The rights center highlighted the severe violations civilians in Taiz faced over nine years and the catastrophic effects on the population due to the closure of main roads leading to the city from the east, west, and north, causing basic goods prices to increase by up to 400% due to difficulties in transporting goods through alternative routes, in addition to a significant increase in transportation costs.
The American Center for Justice documented in its report the Houthis’ obstruction of 31 humanitarian relief convoys and the confiscation of 22 trucks of essential food and medical supplies intended for the city’s residents, which were then diverted for military efforts.
The report also addressed the targeting of health sector facilities in Taiz by the Houthis, documenting the complete destruction of three health units and partial damage to three hospitals, 22 health centers, and units. Thirteen health centers and 32 units ceased operation due to the displacement of medical staff and fuel shortages.
During the first year of the strict siege on Taiz, the report documented the absence of basic life necessities such as water, food, medicine, and oxygen, noting the deaths of 26 civilians, including 9 children and 7 women, due to the lack of oxygen in hospitals.
The report also highlighted that the war and siege on Taiz led to the displacement of 44,749 families, totaling 214,693 individuals across 17 districts of the province, and prevented the Houthis from accessing water to the city, which previously relied on it for 75% of its needs. Additionally, the use of a designated waste dump in the western part of the city was prohibited, leading to garbage accumulation in the city streets during the first year of the siege and the spread of infectious diseases among the residents.
The rights report emphasized that the Houthis’ siege of the city has prevented healthcare for kidney failure and cancer patients from the province’s districts, who were receiving care at the only centers within the city.
According to the rights center, 20,621 university and technical institute students were adversely affected by the Houthis’ siege and road closures, preventing them from continuing their education. Additionally, 32,000 school students were impacted, along with a 500% increase in the prices of basic food and medical supplies and a 1000% increase in transportation fees for individuals.
The American Center for Justice asserted in its report that there was no pure military advantage to the Houthis’ siege on Taiz, indicating that the motive was revenge against the city’s residents due to their opposition to the group’s armed takeover of power and its enforcement of its ideology and doctrine through collective punishment policies.
The rights center urged the international community not to link the Taiz siege issue with the political and military file in negotiations, treating it as a humanitarian issue requiring urgent intervention, as the rights to life, movement, work, and freedom are inherent human rights that should not be negotiable.
Furthermore, the center called on the international community, the UN envoy to Yemen, and the US envoy to press the Houthis to open the main roads to the city, clear mines, remove snipers from the hills overlooking the city’s entrances, and allow the entry of humanitarian aid and commercial goods through the city’s main ports and provide it with the water quantities it was allocated before the siege. The report also demanded that the Houthis release the maps of the mines, lift the siege on the villages in contact zones, and release the detained and forcibly disappeared victims.
