Taiz Waste Crisis Sparks 5,025 Illnesses as 6,400 Families Flee
(MENAFN) Authorities in Yemen’s southwestern Taiz province logged 5,025 illness cases in October and tied them to mounting garbage in Taiz city, where weeks of fighting have pushed 6,400 families to seek safety.
The province’s Office for Siege Affairs said the cases included infectious and respiratory diseases and fevers, with waste accumulating in streets, residential neighborhoods and drainage channels.
Landfill access blocked: Ailan Abdel Haq, the province’s deputy governor for health affairs, accused the Houthi group on Tuesday of stopping waste trucks before they could unload at a temporary landfill west of the city. Taiz has been cut off from its main landfill for more than 11 years. Abdel Haq called on UN agencies to step in, get the trucks through and reopen the main site.
Displacement surge: Taiz Governor Nabil Shamsan said the newest arrivals have lifted the number of displaced families in the city to 39,400, adding strain to services already stretched thin.
Deadly shelling: Elsewhere in the province, the Office for Siege Affairs said a shell fired by Houthi forces hit a home in Al-Athawir village, in Hayfan district. The blast killed three girls, aged 3, 7 and 12, and a 35-year-old woman, and wounded four other civilians. The Houthis did not immediately comment.
Ayman al-Kamali, director of the independent Taiz Human Rights Center, told a news agency that shelling, sniper fire and mine explosions have killed more than 50 civilians and wounded dozens across the province in the past four weeks.
Control and blockade claims: Government forces hold Taiz city, while the Houthis control parts of the surrounding province. Yemeni rights and aid groups accuse the Houthis of besieging the city and obstructing aid convoys, allegations the group denies.
Wider conflict: According to UN reports, the military escalation between government forces and the Houthis that resumed in July has killed and wounded thousands and displaced more than a quarter of a million people. It ended a stretch of relative calm that had held across Yemen since April 2022, and the humanitarian crisis has deepened as fighting and displacement continue.
The province’s Office for Siege Affairs said the cases included infectious and respiratory diseases and fevers, with waste accumulating in streets, residential neighborhoods and drainage channels.
Landfill access blocked: Ailan Abdel Haq, the province’s deputy governor for health affairs, accused the Houthi group on Tuesday of stopping waste trucks before they could unload at a temporary landfill west of the city. Taiz has been cut off from its main landfill for more than 11 years. Abdel Haq called on UN agencies to step in, get the trucks through and reopen the main site.
Displacement surge: Taiz Governor Nabil Shamsan said the newest arrivals have lifted the number of displaced families in the city to 39,400, adding strain to services already stretched thin.
Deadly shelling: Elsewhere in the province, the Office for Siege Affairs said a shell fired by Houthi forces hit a home in Al-Athawir village, in Hayfan district. The blast killed three girls, aged 3, 7 and 12, and a 35-year-old woman, and wounded four other civilians. The Houthis did not immediately comment.
Ayman al-Kamali, director of the independent Taiz Human Rights Center, told a news agency that shelling, sniper fire and mine explosions have killed more than 50 civilians and wounded dozens across the province in the past four weeks.
Control and blockade claims: Government forces hold Taiz city, while the Houthis control parts of the surrounding province. Yemeni rights and aid groups accuse the Houthis of besieging the city and obstructing aid convoys, allegations the group denies.
Wider conflict: According to UN reports, the military escalation between government forces and the Houthis that resumed in July has killed and wounded thousands and displaced more than a quarter of a million people. It ended a stretch of relative calm that had held across Yemen since April 2022, and the humanitarian crisis has deepened as fighting and displacement continue.
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