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Yemen’s Taiz caught by artillery shells attack

A district in a city in Yemen A district in a city in Yemen Credit to jones814 on Pixabay

27 July 2021 

The new artillery shells by Houti forces killed three civilians in the city of Taiz, in Yemen.

On 27 July, Arab News reported that a new attack was perpetrated in Yemen’s densely populated southern city of Taiz by Iran-backed Houthis through artillery shells. The shelling came as fighting between government troops and the Houthis flared up in contested areas outside the city and resulted in killing three young civilians. 

The Yemen war pits the de facto authority (DFA) Ansar Allah group, otherwise recognized as “Houti”, against the internationally recognized government backed by the Saudi-led Arab coalition. According to the Jerusalem Post, the Houti forces control Sana’a, Yemen’s capital, and all of northern Yemen except Marib Governorate, whereas Taiz is a city that is nowadays under control of the government. Unable to seize control of the city’s downtown due to stiff resistance from government troops, the terrorist outfit has laid siege to Taiz for the last six years, frequently targeting civilians, hospitals, houses and schools. From their positions on the city's eastern suburbs, the Houthis shelled different civilian targets in the city’s downtown, provoking explosions that rocked the city and claimed the lives of three people, according to what was reported by Arab News. Major rights groups have accused the Houthis of deliberately killing and wounding hundreds of civilians in Taiz and blocking the delivery of humanitarian assistance to tens of thousands of hungry and sick residents. As reported by the National News, fighting increased on Monday in the central province of Marib, where the Houthis have pressed ahead with a deadly offensive to seize control of the strategic city since February.

At the wake of the attack, Yemenis are calling for the United Nations’ announcement of its fourth special envoy to Yemen, as reported by Jerusalem Post. He/she must come after the previous three who had failed in having a sort of mediation in the conflict. The hope is that this figure will bring all the warring parties back to the dialogue table and to the path of peace in a country torn apart by seven years of war, defined by the UN as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

 

Sources:

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1900631/middle-east

https://www.jpost.com/international/un-to-appoint-fourth-envoy-to-yemen-worlds-worst-humanitarian-crisis-675243

https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/can-yemen-once-more-be-a-united-nation-668977

https://www.thenationalnews.com/gulf-news/2021/07/29/yemens-houthis-increase-attacks-in-bid-to-seize-marib/

 

Author Jasmina Saric; Editor Gianpaolo Mascaro

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