TAIZ, Yemen, October 22 (Aalimi Nation) – Nearly 260,000 people have been displaced in Yemen since August as fighting intensifies in Taiz province, the United Nations humanitarian office said, warning of mounting civilian harm. The Yemen displacement figure, released late on Wednesday, includes about half of the total in Taiz alone, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
OCHA said the UN Human Rights Office had verified 251 civilian casualties during the period: 57 killed and 194 injured. Half of those killed were children, the office said. Humanitarian partners have reached more than 174,000 displaced people since August with food, hygiene kits and emergency cash, OCHA said, adding that the most urgent needs of newly displaced families are shelter, followed by food and cash.
A separate OCHA update said that since October 8, aid partners have been unable to move between Taiz city and districts to the south. Yemen's Ministry of Education has said more than 2.5 million children are out of school because of the conflict.
Government spokesperson Majid al-Nazili said on Wednesday that forces carried out 835 "targeting operations" against the Houthis, killing or wounding 285 members and destroying tanks and weapons depots. He said intense clashes took place in the Jabal Han highlands in western Taiz, which overlook routes towards the government's base in Aden, with heavy fighting also reported in the Dhubab and al-Masrakh districts. A government military source said air raids struck Houthi gatherings and infrastructure in Maafar, south of Taiz.
These figures are claims by the government side and could not be independently verified. The Houthi movement has not been quoted in the available reports on the Taiz toll.
On Thursday, Yemen's Ministry of Defence warned civilians in Houthi-held areas to stay away from Houthi rallies and what it called "cultural courses", saying they would be treated as legitimate military targets. The government has alleged that the group uses such events to recruit children.
Government forces are pressing a counteroffensive called "Dawn of Yemen", launched earlier this month with support from the Saudi-led coalition, to retake Houthi-held areas, including the capital, Sanaa. Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority said on Thursday that two people had died after a strike on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam on Wednesday evening. The Houthis say their strikes on Saudi airports respond to restrictions on Houthi-controlled airports and seaports.
The United States State Department has ordered non-essential staff and family members to leave its embassy in Riyadh. Its travel alert warned that "the hostilities have the potential to escalate rapidly beyond that immediate area."
The Houthis seized Sanaa and several other provinces in 2014, and a Saudi-led coalition intervened in March 2015 in support of the internationally recognised government. A UN-brokered truce collapsed in July. The Houthis control much of northern and western Yemen, while the government and its allies hold Aden and large parts of the south and east.
