The siege imposed by the Houthis on the Yemeni city of Taiz has doubled the suffering of hundreds of thousands of its residents, after the prices of basic goods rose to five times their usual levels, amid the continued closure of roads leading to the city, and the faltering humanitarian efforts aimed at opening a safe corridor to deliver aid, at a time when the wave of displacement from the combat areas in the west and south of the country is expanding.
The International Organization for Migration said that the recent military escalation and the resulting fighting caused a sharp rise in the prices of basic materials in Taiz. Its cost increased between 3 and 5 times, as a result of cutting off access roads to the areas surrounding the city, which made even necessary food supplies out of the reach of many families.
The organization added that more than 300,000 people were forced to flee their homes with the escalation of fighting in western Yemen, and that most of the displacement operations occurred during the past two months, amid increasing difficulties facing families in finding shelter and securing their basic needs, in conjunction with restrictions that hinder the access of relief agencies to those affected.
The head of the International Organization for Migration mission, Abdul Sattar Isoev, said that after years of conflict, Yemeni families find themselves forced to flee again, and often have nothing but the clothes they wear, stressing their urgent need for shelter, food, clean water, and health care.
Isoev warned that the lack of funding could leave thousands of families without the assistance they desperately need, at a time when humanitarian needs are increasing with the expansion of confrontations and displacement.
Since the beginning of October, more than 43,000 people have been displaced from the Al-Madaraba and Al-Ara districts in Lahj Governorate, which is the highest number recorded in a single district in Yemen, according to the organization. On the other hand, the displacement movement is increasing within Taiz Governorate, while many families are heading to the city of Aden, which currently hosts more than 56 thousand displaced people.
In an attempt to mitigate the health repercussions of the crisis, the organization operates 5 mobile medical teams in 4 governorates, namely Ma’rib, Lahj, Aden, and Taiz, including two teams in the latter, to provide primary health care services, medical consultations, and reproductive health, in addition to treating acute malnutrition, vaccination, medical referrals, mental health services, protection, and emergency care.
The five teams provided about a thousand medical consultations over the past week, in areas that suffer from a lack of services or are affected by humanitarian crises.
In light of the expanding needs, the International Organization for Migration said that the humanitarian response still needs additional funding, despite the contributions it received to expand the scope of its interventions, setting its needs at about $45 million over the next six months.
The requested funding is supposed to cover life-saving assistance, including shelter, emergency cash assistance, basic non-food items, protection, health care, clean water and sanitation, as well as coordination of displacement sites and tracking population movement.
These interventions come within the response plan to the Yemen crisis that targets displaced families and host communities, in addition to the regional response plan for migrants in the Horn of Africa and Yemen, concerned with assisting migrants coming from the Horn of Africa through Yemeni territory.
Although the Houthis impose a siege on the city of Taiz, and continue to target population centers in its countryside and areas west of Lahj, the International Organization for Migration has limited itself to calling on all parties to the conflict to protect civilians and humanitarian workers, and to ensure safe and unhindered access to aid. Especially to hard-to-reach areas in Taiz Governorate.
In a related context, Yemeni government sources reported to Asharq Al-Awsat of the continued influx of people fleeing Houthi-controlled areas in western Lahj Governorate and the contact areas with Taiz, as a result of the continued targeting of residential villages with missile shells and drones. Especially in the Al-Muqatara and Al-Mudaraba districts.
The sources stated that the Houthis, after closing the roads leading to the countryside of Taiz Governorate, escalated their targeting of population centers on the outskirts of the Al-Maqtara District, in conjunction with continuing to fire missiles and drones at the villages of the Al-Mudaraba District, the outskirts of which have witnessed continuous confrontations with government forces for more than a month.
These developments add new pressures on residents in rural areas. The closure of roads and the targeting of villages coincide with the rising costs of living and the decline in access to food, water and health services, at a time when humanitarian organizations face increasing difficulties in reaching those affected.
The Houthi militias resorted to propaganda methods to attract more fighters to their ranks, by sprinkling perfumes and the smells of musk, amber and oud on the graves of their dead, before organizing visits by residents to them, in an attempt to portray the smells emanating from them as religious “dignities” and to give an aura of holiness to the dead, in a way that serves mobilization and recruitment campaigns, and presents involvement in the fighting fronts as a path to exceptional status.
Informed sources in Sanaa revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that instructions had been issued by the group’s leader to his followers, requiring them to provide perfumes and sprinkle them on the graves of a number of those killed. Especially those belonging to his alleged lineage. Before organizing field visits for residents to the cemeteries, many people, including school students, are forced to participate in them as part of the annual activities held by the group under the name “Martyr Week.”
According to the sources, the group deliberately exploits the smells emanating from the graves, after dousing them with perfumes, to promote stories about alleged “dignities” and make visitors believe that they are evidence of the exceptional status of their dead, in an effort to influence the feelings of their families and exploit the religious beliefs of the population. Especially young people and young people, and pushing them to join the fighting fronts.
The so-called “Martyrs Foundation” and the “General Authority for Martyrs’ Welfare,” which are affiliated with the group, have allocated funds to purchase perfumes and spray them on the graves of the dead, in cemeteries they have developed over the past years in various neighborhoods of Sana’a, including Asr, Al-Jarraf, and Masik, in the districts of Ma’in, Al-Thawra, and Azal.
These movements were preceded by decorating and expanding works on a number of cemeteries, in preparation for organizing visits and propaganda events related to the occasion. The sources explained that during the past years these practices remained largely confined to Saada, the group's main stronghold, before the group tended to spread them in Sana'a and other cities, coinciding with the escalation of recruitment campaigns, to compensate for its human losses on the battle fronts.
Through these activities, the group seeks to transform the graves of its dead into platforms for ideological mobilization and attracting new fighters, and to exploit scenes of death and family tragedies to market the fighting within its ranks, and to portray the dead as role models, while their families - according to sources - reap nothing but loss, displacement, and exacerbation of social and humanitarian burdens.
These practices sparked a wave of ridicule and resentment among the residents of Sanaa, who considered spraying perfumes on graves and then presenting their scents as “karamat” as an attempt to mislead and belittle the minds of citizens, and to exploit the grief experienced by the families of the dead, to turn graves into propaganda tools that serve recruitment and mobilization campaigns.
An educator, who was forced, along with students from a government school in Sanaa, a few days ago, to visit one of the group’s cemeteries, said that Houthi supervisors tried to convince visitors of the presence of pleasant odors emanating from some of the graves, and presented this as evidence of what they described as “dignities.”
He added that the supervisors deliberately drew the attention of students and visitors to those smells, in an attempt to consolidate the group’s narratives about its dead, and to influence the convictions of younger generations. He said: “It is very shameful that the graves of the dead have been turned into a means to deceive people and influence their minds, through artificial myths that serve goals aimed at luring more fighters to the fronts.”
For his part, Nasser - a store owner in Sanaa - says that the Houthi militias were not satisfied with confiscating the lives of residents and imposing pressure on them; Rather, its practices extended to exploiting cemeteries and family tragedies to market its combat project, and to convince young men and women that joining its ranks is an end worthy of sacrificing one’s life.
He added that the group spends money on pouring perfumes, decorating graves, and organizing propaganda events around them, instead of directing it to caring for the families of the dead and compensating children who lost their fathers in its wars. He said: “It is easy to pour perfumes on graves, but what is more difficult is to confront the families of the dead with the reality of what they have lost.”
The Yemeni government forces maintained their positions on the fronts of the besieged city of Taiz, and were able, with the support of the popular resistance, to break a violent Houthi attack on the Al-Aqroud front, southeast of the city, in conjunction with recovering military sites and strategic heights east of the city of Al-Hazm, the center of Al-Jawf Governorate, in a field development aimed at advancing towards the city.
In exchange for this steadfastness in Taiz and the progress in Al-Jawf, the Houthis expanded their military movements towards the Al-Maqtara District, north of Lahj Governorate, and were able, despite the air strikes and the losses they incurred, to control the historic Al-Maqtara Castle and penetrate into important areas and heights, including the tunnel area and sites overlooking the Haijat Al-Abd obstacle, after fierce confrontations with government forces.
According to local sources, government forces, with the support of the “Giants Forces” and “National Shield,” still control large parts of the district, and were able to repel attacks and destroy convoys of Houthi reinforcements at the bottom of Aqaba and the liquidity of Souq Al-Rabu’, while they continue to launch counterattacks to restore the sites that the group took control of, amid the push for reinforcements and tribal fighters to confront the Houthi expansion.
The confrontations are concentrated in the south and southeast of the city of Taiz, on the Al-Aqroud and Kahlan fronts, and in Al-Dhabab, west of the city, where the armed forces, with the support of the popular resistance, were able to break a violent Houthi attack on the Al-Aqroud front, amid continuing confrontations and air strikes that targeted gatherings of the group on these fronts.
On Sunday, the air strikes extended to areas in the Dhamar and Hodeidah governorates, including the Bajil District, and also targeted Houthi sites in Haijat al-Abd and Al-Saha Road, southwest of Taiz, as part of the air operations accompanying the ground battles.
On the other hand, the Houthi attack focused on the Al-Maqtara District, north of Lahj, where the group took control of the historic Al-Maqtara Castle, and penetrated into the tunnel area and a number of heights overlooking the Haijat Al-Abd obstacle.
These developments are gaining military importance given the location of the Al-Maqtara Mountains and its castle overlooking the Naqil Haijat Al-Abd Road and the Al-Karba Road, which are two of the vital paths linking Taiz to the southern regions.
Controlling the castle allows monitoring movements in the vicinity of these corridors and threatening traffic through them, which raises fears of expanding military restrictions on the roads leading to Taiz, and deepening the isolation of the city, which is already suffering from the Houthi siege.
The importance of heights is not limited to securing local roads; Controlling it opens the way for advancement towards the Tur Al-Baha District, and also grants geographical supervision over the Al-Anad military base in Lahj Governorate.
Al-Maqtara, due to its mountainous location, forms a depth for the corridors connected to the western coast and Bab al-Mandab, and controlling its heights allows for securing the lines of advance and limiting the chances of a military outflank, in addition to influencing the movement of forces and supplies in the area extending towards Ras al-Ara, south of the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
In a parallel field development, the Yemeni Armed Forces, represented by the First Emergency Division, announced the recovery of military sites and strategic heights east of the city of Al-Hazm, following violent battles that ended with Houthi elements fleeing their positions in the vicinity of the Dahidha Mountains.
The forces said that they took control of weapons and ammunition stores left behind by the group, and destroyed combat vehicles and armored vehicles, adding that the confrontations resulted in the killing and wounding of dozens of Houthis and the arrest of others.
On the administrative and military level, the Presidential Command Council issued two Republican decisions, on Sunday, appointing Major General Hussein Al-Aji Ali Al-Awadi as Governor of Al-Bayda Governorate, and Major General Amin Ali Al-Okaimi as Governor of Al-Jawf Governorate, with the latter appointed as Commander of the Al-Jawf Axis.
