Iran-backed Houthi forces are stepping up their attempts to advance into the strategically important city of Taiz following weeks of siege and the closure of surrounding major roads. Yemeni government forces, with support from Saudi airstrikes, are seeking to repel the attacks and lift a siege the Yemeni government views as a grave threat to Aden and the Red Sea.
The Houthis, designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, tightened their siege of the city in recent weeks by cutting its main southern road to Aden, the temporary capital of the internationally recognized government. The blockade has triggered widespread displacement and worsened the humanitarian crisis.
Col. Majed Abdullah al-Nuzaili, the official spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces, said Sunday that the rebels’ repeated attacks on the Taiz had been thwarted. Warplanes targeted Houthi positions and reinforcements, inflicting “heavy losses in personnel and equipment,” according to a statement he published on X.
Brig. Gen. Abdulilah Khader, a former Yemeni diplomat, told MBN that the Houthis were deploying large numbers of fighters in an effort to seize the city. Saudi airstrikes, however, were “inflicting heavy losses on them” as government forces attempted to break the siege and rescue residents.
A Houthi capture of Taiz would be a major setback for the broad military operation launched by government forces several weeks ago with Saudi support. It would also make it more difficult for those forces to continue their counteroffensive against the Houthis around the Bab al-Mandab Strait or keep the group at a safe distance from Aden.
Faisal al-Majidi, Yemen’s deputy justice minister, told MBN that the fall of Taiz would mean the collapse of Aden’s strategic depth and open the road for the Houthis to advance. That, he said, is what gives the battle its considerable strategic importance for government forces.
After the Houthis overthrew the internationally recognized government in Sanaa in 2014, Taiz became for years a persistent front line between the group and government forces. The city has long been considered a stronghold of opposition to the Houthis.
In comments to MBN, al-Majidi attributed the Houthis’ failure to enter Taiz since 2015 to the absence of a local popular base supporting them, the province’s rugged mountainous terrain, and what he described as “the fierce determination of the Yemeni army and the city’s residents, who understand the danger of Houthi control over Taiz.”
The Houthis adhere to the Zaidi branch of Shiite Islam, while most residents of Taiz follow the Shafi’i school of Islamic jurisprudence, one of the principal schools followed by Sunni Muslims.
Taiz is the last major urban center held by forces opposed to the Houthis in Yemen’s southern highlands, a rugged, hilly region overlooking Aden and the coastal plain around the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
The Houthis control areas to the north, east and west of Taiz, while government forces hold the city and its immediate surroundings, including Mount Saber, which overlooks it from the south.
As fighting resumed in Yemen in recent weeks, the Houthis began making advances aimed at isolating the city by capturing areas south of Mount Saber along the road to Aden. The route stretches 200 kilometers through rugged hills and highlands, where fighting is slow and difficult.
Parts of the road are now under Houthi control, including the town of Al-Turbah and Al-Misrakh District in Taiz province. This has left the city under siege since early October. The Houthis also periodically shell government positions in and around Taiz.
With Saudi air support, government forces are trying to reverse the Houthis’ latest gains and reopen the road. But they continue to lose territory around Taiz rather than recover areas they have already lost.
At the same time, the Houthis, who have intensified their attacks on Saudi targets and demonstrated that they are better armed and organized than in earlier stages of the war, are seeking to consolidate their siege of Taiz and advance toward the city.
Khader pointed to the Houthis’ use of ballistic and long-range missiles in their current attacks.
Located about 170 kilometers north of Aden, Taiz is Yemen’s third-largest city, with a population of approximately 600,000. As the Houthis tighten their blockade of the roads leading into the city, its residents are facing a severe humanitarian crisis.
The World Health Organization warned Friday that 12 hospitals in Taiz could run out of fuel within four days, putting patients’ lives at risk as aid and medicine remain unable to reach the city under Houthi siege.
Zoe Brennan, a spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration, said at a press briefing in Geneva on Friday that approximately 230,000 people had been displaced by the renewed conflict in Yemen, including more than 120,000 in Taiz alone.
According to al-Majidi, the United Nations is struggling to deliver relief supplies to residents because of the Houthi blockade and the group’s refusal to open crossing points and roads.
The United Nations World Food Programme has confirmed that Taiz is on the verge of exhausting its entire stockpile of wheat since aid deliveries to the city were blocked.
According to the program, its staff are unable to reach more than 600,000 people in Taiz who depend on humanitarian assistance.
