Taiz Cut Off as Houthi Blockade Enters Month Two
One million five hundred thousand residents face shrinking food and medical supplies as the encirclement of the Yemeni city tightens.
By Jessica Abebe ·
The conflict in Yemen has intensified around the city of Taiz, where Houthi forces have completed a total encirclement. This development has entered its second month, isolating the urban center from critical supply lines.
The blockade began after Houthi forces captured al-Turbah in the southwestern part of Taiz governorate. This move severed the main road connecting the city to Aden and the rest of the country. Houthi troops had previously surrounded Taiz from the north, east, and south after reaching its outskirts in 2015. Their recent advance into the western countryside closed the final gap.
The UN has issued repeated warnings that conditions inside the city could become catastrophic. The siege affects the 1.5 million people living in Taiz as well as residents in surrounding rural areas. Approximately 180,000 displaced people are also trapped by fighting along the main road between Lahj and Taiz.
Salah Ahmed Ghaleb al-Majidi, acting director of the governorate's Siege Affairs Department, described the blockade as the most severe imposed on a Yemeni city since the war began in 2014. He noted that food, water, fuel, and medical supplies are struggling to reach the population. Waste is accumulating within the city because it cannot be transported to landfill sites outside the perimeter.
Residents report that road closures are separating families and disrupting daily life. Ahmed al-Mikhlafi, a resident who left Taiz for a pilgrimage to Mecca, attempted to return with his wife and three children. Their vehicle was forced to take a rough alternative route because the main path through Hayjat al-Abd and al-Turbah was closed. They passed nearly 20 new Houthi checkpoints before being stopped roughly 15 kilometers from the city's final entrance.
The family was ordered to wait two days in a rural hotel while fighting blocked the road. The room cost 100 Saudi riyals per night, a fee Ahmed noted had risen sharply from the previous fare of 35 riyals. This price increase has placed a heavier burden on lower-income households in the region.
Medical access has deteriorated rapidly during the siege. Taysir al-Samei, information officer at the governorate's health office, stated that access to the city's hospital declined by 60 to 70 percent by the end of the second week. Hospitals are also running short on medical supplies and the fuel needed to maintain essential services.
One young journalist, identified as T F, faces urgent health challenges due to the blockade. He suffers from chronic immune-related inflammation affecting his liver enzymes and previously received specialist care in Cairo. Recent tests showed his enzyme levels had risen to 32 times the normal range. His doctor urged urgent treatment abroad, but the journalist said his reporting against the Houthis made it nearly impossible to leave through their controlled territory.
