Houthi Attack on Taiz Supply Road Amounts to War Crime, HRW Says
Human Rights Watch said a Houthi attack that severely damaged a critical supply road into besieged
#Taiz could constitute a war crime, warning that the destruction threatens civilians already facing acute shortages of food, water, medicine and fuel.
Houthi forces detonated explosives on the Hayjat al-Abd road near Al-Turbah at about 4 a.m. on October 18, the organization said in a report published Monday. The organization described the road as the main entry point for essential supplies into Taiz, which has been under Houthi siege since 2015.
Human Rights Watch said deliberately disabling infrastructure indispensable to civilian survival would constitute a war crime if intended to deny civilians essential supplies. The attack may also have caused disproportionate civilian harm, it added.
“The Houthi attack on the remaining commercial supply route to besieged Taiz further endangers civilians already struggling with severe shortages of food, water, medicine, and fuel,” said Niku Jafarnia,
#Yemen and Bahrain researcher at Human Rights Watch. “If Taiz residents’ access along this vital route is cut off for a prolonged period, they could face even greater risks to their lives and well-being.”
Human Rights Watch said it verified the incident and sought a response from the Houthis but received none.
The organization also reported a similar attack earlier in October, about 45 kilometers southeast of Taiz. Sources told its researchers that Houthi forces planted and detonated explosives in a drainage culvert beneath the road near Al-Wahti market before withdrawing.
The road attacks have intensified concerns about humanitarian access. On October 14, the UN World Food Programme said it could not reach more than 600,000 people in Taiz who rely on aid.
Human Rights Watch called the restrictions particularly concerning given emergency levels of hunger across most of the governorate’s districts. The World Food Programme also warned that wheat flour stocks were nearly exhausted and that remaining market supplies could soon run out if access restrictions persisted.