Over 900 Families Displaced in Two Days as Fighting Intensifies in Yemen’s Taiz

Government forces and Houthis clash in Maqbanah, Jabal Habashi districts; UN reports nearly 1,800 families displaced, dozens killed on both sides
Taiz/Sanaa, — More than 900 families have been displaced in just two days as fighting between Yemeni government forces and Houthi rebels intensified in Taiz province, local authorities said on Friday.
Preliminary figures from the Taiz office of Yemen’s Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation showed that 917 families fled their homes on Thursday and Friday amid renewed clashes in Maqbanah district and nearby areas, including Jabal Habashi.  Families evacuated from parts of Maqbanah including Azl al-Yemen, Al-Abdalah, Al-Ashmalah, and Al-Jabb camps, while others were displaced from Al-Rahbah and Al-Rajhi camps in Jabal Habashi, moving to safer areas in Jabal Habashi and Al-Ma’afer districts.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that approximately 1,790 households have been displaced since September 3, with movements continuing at the time of reporting.  Most displaced families have moved within Maqbanah and Jabal Habashi, while others have reached the districts of Al-Ma’afer, Ash-Shamayatayn, Mawza, and Dhubab in western Taiz.
OCHA said some displacement sites in the province had been “reportedly emptied,” triggering a large-scale wave of secondary displacement.  Heavy shelling in the Maqbanah and Jabal Habashi districts completely emptied several camps for displaced people.
The ministry’s office said many families fled with very little time, leaving behind their belongings and basic necessities, and are now facing “extremely difficult” humanitarian conditions.  It appealed to local and international aid organizations for emergency shelter, food, drinking water, and sanitation services, saying “immediate, multi-sectoral humanitarian intervention” is needed before the crisis spreads further.
Those who did escape are arriving with almost no food, shelter or basic supplies.
Local media, citing military sources, reported that dozens of government soldiers and Houthi fighters have been killed or wounded since the fighting intensified.  A Yemeni military official said 66 government forces had been killed, while medical and military sources close to the Houthis said at least 62 of the group’s fighters had also died.  One civilian death was reported by a medical source.
Civilians have also been killed and wounded in the artillery shelling, but no comprehensive official death toll has been released due to ongoing clashes.
The latest violence is part of armed confrontation that began in July, ending the relative calm that had generally existed on Yemen’s front lines since the UN-brokered truce in April 2022.  The Houthis have controlled the capital Sanaa and several other cities since September 2014, while the internationally recognized government and its allies control large parts of Yemen’s southern, eastern, and western regions.
Yemeni government forces, which have been engaged in fierce clashes with Houthi fighters in the country’s southwest, retook Tabbat al-Khazan on Friday, a strategic position in the Jabal Habashi district, following heavy fighting with Houthi forces, state-run Saba TV reported.