A recent report issued by the Information and Training Center for Human Rights documented a number of egregious violations committed by the Houthi militia, within the state of siege imposed on the Yemeni city of Taiz for the eighth year in a row.
The report, titled “Taiz, the Longest Siege in History,” mentioned many facts about the suffering of civilians under the influence of the siege. Noting that nearly 26,000 cases of violations affected civilians in Taiz, during the siege imposed on the city, which has been going on for more than 8 years.
The Human Rights Information and Training Center said that it documented a total of 25,973 violations against civilians during the period from March 21, 2015 to June 30, 2023.
The report pointed out that these documented violations against civilians only, other than attacks on private or public property or forced displacement, varied between direct targeting by shelling and sniping, victims of mine accidents, cases of kidnapping, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, torture, assault and violation of freedom of expression.
He pointed out that during the siege, 4,105 civilians were killed. including 878 children and 464 women, while the number of injured reached 17,948 civilians; Among them are 2,132 children and 2,660 women. While the mines claimed 2,075 civilian casualties, “where the center’s field monitoring team documented the killing of 779 civilians; including 38 children and 23 women, and 1,296 others were wounded; Among them are 71 children and 30 women, as a result of tens of thousands of mines planted by the Houthi group in the city.
The report indicated that there were 496 cases of kidnapping of civilians, in addition to 175 cases of enforced disappearance, 897 cases of arbitrary detention, and 102 cases of torture. Many of them resulted in death or permanent disability, complete paralysis of movement, or insanity and psychological state, 97 cases of attacks on civilians, and 78 violations of freedom of opinion and expression.
As for the violations that affected public and private property, the report mentioned 4,001 cases of violations, of which 614 were violations of public property, and 3,387 violations of private property, which varied between explosion, total or partial destruction, break-ins, looting, and damage to vehicles.
The Information Center confirmed that the Houthi group’s continued imposition of the siege on the city “which today exceeds 8 years as the longest siege in modern history, confirms its quest to continue its approach towards annihilating the city, and committing the most heinous crime in history in a racist manner against the most peaceful and struggling people of the province.”
On Thursday, a massive campaign was launched against the siege imposed by the Houthi militia on the city of Taiz, amid international disregard for the suffering of millions of residents trapped in the city, who are denied access to food and medicine by the Houthi militia.
As part of the “Documentation Week for the Memory of the City”, coinciding with the passage of 3,000 days since the siege imposed by the Houthi militia on the governorate in southwestern Yemen, the governor of Taiz, Nabil Shamsan, called on the international community to assume its responsibilities towards the siege of the city, calling for pressure on the Houthis to lift the siege and give priority to Taiz. In any upcoming talks.
Shamsan touched on the disastrous effects of the blockade, which caused the destruction of infrastructure and services, the destruction of facilities, the closure of roads, the bleeding of lives through daily shelling, sniping and mines, and the difficulty of obtaining living services, travel and transportation of patients.
He explained that the blockade caused a water crisis amounting to 75% of the population’s needs, destroyed 50% of the road network, increased the cost of travel, and increased the distance by 1000%, to transport goods, which led to a 35% increase in prices, compared to the liberated areas, as well as traffic accidents, which amounted to 481, resulting in 374. 966 deaths and injuries, and losses estimated at $475 million.
At a time when the blockade caused damage to 180 schools, the closure of 31 schools, and 32,000 male and female students affected, while the number of students affected by the inability to reach universities reached 8,000 male and female students.
While financial losses in revenues amounted to 228 million dollars per year, and 9,000 workers were affected. The mine casualties amounted to 1,700 dead and wounded, 258 homes and 40 commercial establishments were damaged, and 718 civilians were kidnapped.
The inauguration witnessed the screening of the film “Taiz under Siege”, which reviewed the siege process from the beginning until today and its effects on the high number of victims and violations, as well as the increasing severity of the suffering of the people of the city of Taiz.
The Yemeni President, Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi, confirmed in a phone call to the Governor of Taiz Governorate, Nabil Shamsan, the commitment of the Presidential Leadership Council and the government to make the issue of Taiz and ending its criminal siege that has been going on for 3,000 days a top priority on the tracks of peace and military deterrence.
The President of the Presidential Leadership Council saluted all the actors and activists who showed their usual solidarity with more than 4 million residents of Taiz besieged by the Houthi war machine, in its failed endeavor to put down the cradle of revolutions and national resistance movements against the Imamate, tyranny and backwardness throughout the ages.
