Red Cross: Fighting Grows in Yemen’s Taiz, Situation ‘Dire’

Pro-Saudi Forces Say Houthis 'Repelled' in Latest Fighting

Fighting continues to pick up in Yemen’s third city of Taiz, as pro-Saudi forces shift west, treating this as the new frontline in the war, and Shi’ite Houthis attempt to expel them from strategically important districts within the city.

The death tolls in the area include a large number of civilians, a product of the two sides fighting primarily over residential districts, and while both sides are insisting the other was responsible for all of the casualties, neither seems willing to shore up that narrative by stopping their own attacks on overtly residential areas.

The Red Cross termed the situation in the city “increasingly dire,” warning of growing civilian casualties, 22 killed and 140 wounded, from the “indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas.” The situation in Taiz is, they say, even worse than the “appalling” conditions elsewhere in Yemen.

The pro-Saudi forces tried to appear upbeat about this latest fighting, however, bragging that they’d “repelled” a Houthi offensive trying to unseat them from one of the districts and killed 22 Houthi fighters in doing so. That appears to be par for the course for the war, which has been dragging on for months despite predictions of a quick win.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.