Taiz fighting intensifies as Yemen displacement grows
Clashes have escalated near Taiz since Houthi forces seized Mokha port, while the UN refugee agency reports more than 130,000 people displaced across Yemen this month.
Fighting has intensified on the western approaches to Taiz, where government forces and Houthi fighters are contesting high ground. BBC reporters travelling with pro-government forces described drone activity, shelling and gunfire near the front. They could not establish where strikes landed.
The escalation follows the reported Houthi seizure of Mokha port on 10 September. The port lies about 85 kilometres west of Taiz, near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a key shipping corridor. Government forces hold Taiz’s centre, while Houthi positions lie to the north and east.
Contacts on the Houthi side told the BBC they were preparing for a major offensive; government forces said they were preparing too. The BBC also reported that 18 government soldiers’ bodies remained in an area their unit could reach with fire but not retrieve.
At Taiz’s al-Thawra hospital, the BBC found beds in the intensive care unit occupied by wounded fighters and civilians. Displaced families were arriving at a camp south of the city after fleeing Mokha and nearby villages affected by fighting.
On 22 September, the UN refugee agency said more than 130,000 people had been displaced across Yemen that month, in addition to 5.2 million already displaced by the civil war. It warned that a further 100,000 could be displaced over the next three months.
