Yemenupdated 1h ago2 min read
Maen Abdulmalik Saeed Warns Houthi Siege Of Taiz Would Threaten Bab Al-Mandab And Aden Road
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Taiz falling would threaten Bab al-Mandab strait and Aden road, says Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed. He warns western security would be at stake if Taiz falls to Houthis.
5 outlets told this the same way.
Taiz siege and western stakes
Maen Abdulmalik Saeed, adviser to Yemen’s president Rashad al-Alimi and former prime minister, said the future of western security is being fought out in the mountains and hills surrounding Taiz, warning it would be catastrophic if the city fell to the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. Saeed argued that control of the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait in the Red Sea and the road to Aden would be lost if Taiz fell, and he said the Houthis intended “to help Iran to expand the chaos”.
Saeed said the Houthis launched a military campaign last month to take Yemen’s Red Sea coast, ending four years of relative calm after a UN-brokered ceasefire froze the frontlines in 2022. Saeed warned that “In a matter of days there will be a full siege and they will try to enter the city,” and he said it would be “much worse than the siege of 2015.”
UN urged to lift siege
The internationally recognized Yemeni government called on the United Nations, the Security Council, international humanitarian and human rights organizations to take urgent and effective steps to end the siege of Taiz and its surroundings and to open routes and access for civilians and essential supplies. Afrah al-Zuba, the Yemeni foreign affairs and expatriates minister, sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General, the President of the Security Council, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs.
The Yemeni government warned that tightening the siege on Taiz and surrounding villages and areas portends wide humanitarian repercussions, potentially affecting more than 4 million people, according to estimates provided by the Yemeni government. The World Food Programme warned that escalating conflict in Yemen has prevented life-saving aid from reaching about 800,000 people, most of them in Taiz, due to frontline movements, road closures, and increasing security risks hindering relief operations.
Aid cuts, hospitals under strain
The World Food Programme warned that worsening fighting in Yemen has cut life-saving humanitarian aid to about 800,000 people, with more than 600,000 people in Taiz depending on humanitarian aid and access becoming difficult due to ongoing hostilities and road restrictions. Matthew Hollingworth, the programme’s deputy executive director for programme operations, warned that hunger is worsening in Yemen and that the consequences of the latest escalation on food security “could be extremely devastating.”
The World Food Programme said it needs $268 million to continue delivering emergency food assistance, nutrition programs, school meals, resilience activities, and humanitarian logistics in Yemen through the end of 2027, and it warned it may have to significantly reduce its aid from November unless it secures new funding. The International Committee of the Red Cross warned that hospitals along front-line areas in Marib, Taiz, and Yemen’s Red Sea coast are receiving unprecedented numbers of injuries, and Firas Abu Samra said, “The teams caring for trauma injuries are under enormous pressure.”