October 22, 2026
The city of Taiz, located in southwestern Yemen, entered a new phase of field escalation and severe humanitarian pressure, after government forces repelled, on Tuesday, a massive attack launched by the Houthis from three axes. At the same time, the western outskirts of the city were subjected to artillery shelling, resulting in deaths and injuries among civilians, amid mounting international warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe as a result of the continued siege and closure of supply routes.
Yemeni field sources reported that the Houthi attack was launched from the eastern, northern and western sides of the city, accompanied by intense bombardment with heavy weapons and shells that fell on residential neighborhoods and damaged homes, while civilian human losses were concentrated in the western outskirts of Taiz as a result of the bombing.
This escalation comes at a time when the Houthi group has continued, since the beginning of this October, to impose a stifling siege on the strategic city of Taiz, and to close vital roads linking it to the temporary capital, Aden, in the south of the country.
In the face of these developments, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, on Tuesday made an urgent appeal to open a safe corridor to deliver humanitarian aid to the city. Turk warned in an official statement that “the Houthis’ closure of the only supply route linking Taiz to Aden exposes civilians to serious risks, prevents the arrival of humanitarian aid and impedes obtaining basic goods,” stressing the need to allow aid to enter and facilitate its passage immediately.
For his part, spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Matthew Saltmarsh, confirmed that Taiz Governorate constitutes a “source of grave concern” as a major focus of displacement. It witnesses the start of 76% of internal displacement cases, in addition to hosting 52% of newly displaced people.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees announced, on Tuesday, that more than 250,000 people have been internally displaced in various regions of Yemen since last August, against the backdrop of the resumption of hostilities and armed confrontations between government forces and the Houthis.
