Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms Documents 2,264 Houthi Crimes and Violations and Approximately 12,761 Indiscriminately Fired Projectiles over 59 Days

On Friday morning, 30 October 2026, the Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms released its human rights report, entitled “Taiz: Between Killing and Siege,” documenting crimes and violations committed by the terrorist Houthi militias against civilians and civilian objects in Taiz Governorate between 1 September and 29 October 2026.

The Network stated that its field team documented 2,264 crimes and violations during the reporting period, in addition to the indiscriminate firing of approximately 12,761 projectiles, including mortar, howitzer and artillery shells and Katyusha rockets, alongside drone attacks and dozens of ballistic missiles. Most targeted residential neighbourhoods and communities amid escalating military operations and a tightening siege on the city and its surrounding villages.

It explained that the violations included killings, injuries, summary executions, abductions, enforced disappearances, psychological and physical torture, sniper attacks against women and children, the planting of landmines, the demolition of homes using explosives, the looting of property, and attacks on markets, educational and health facilities, and places of worship. They also included the recruitment of children, African migrants and sanitation workers and their deployment into combat.

The report documented the killing of 189 civilians, including 38 children—nine of whom were infants—and 27 women, as a result of indiscriminate shelling, direct sniper fire and landmines. It also documented injuries to 281 civilians, including 29 children and 46 women, as well as the beating of 134 people, including 37 children, 31 women and 16 older persons.

The field team recorded 23 summary executions targeting wounded persons and military personnel, some carried out in front of the victims’ children and wives. The report also identified five massacres during attacks on populated areas, including incidents in Sinah, at the foam factory, at Al-Hangar and in Sabr.

The Network stressed that these figures reflect what its team was able to document, as fighting and restrictions on the ground continued to prevent access to some areas and victims.

The Network recorded 324 cases of abduction and enforced disappearance, including 14 children whom it said were held hostage to pressure their relatives into surrendering, as well as three women and 25 older persons. Some abductees were transferred to Ibb, Dhamar and Sana’a governorates.

The report also documented raids on 521 homes in search of individuals believed to be fighting alongside government forces, and the forcible entry and search of 81 homes, during which belongings were disturbed and residents, including women and children, were terrorised. It further recorded the looting of furnishings from homes whose owners had been forced to flee, as well as the seizure of other homes.

The Network documented damage to 356 homes caused by shelling, including 98 homes that sustained total damage, in addition to four homes blown up with explosives, damage to 151 civilian vehicles, and the looting of 36 privately owned vehicles and other means of transport.

The report stated that the terrorist Houthi militias stormed 23 schools and converted them into military barracks and command-and-control centres, violating the protected civilian character of educational institutions, threatening the safety of students and teachers, and exposing civilian facilities to grave military risks. It also documented the storming of the Taiz University branch campus in Al-Turbah and the abduction of several students from classrooms and areas surrounding their faculties.

The report recorded the looting of 31 farms, the complete destruction of four farms and partial damage to two others. It also documented the planting of landmines in agricultural land, hills, main and secondary roads, and areas into which the militias had recently expanded, threatening residents’ lives and obstructing movement and agricultural work.

The report documented Houthi shelling of the foam factory in Harat Al-Dar, attacks on five ambulances, the killing of seven medical personnel, and attacks on three health facilities and hospitals. It also recorded the closure of approximately 23 commercial centres and five health facilities, alongside the conversion of some facilities into military barracks in Al-Hujariyah, Sami’ and Jabal Habashi.

The Network recorded a raid on the Umm Al-Mu’minin Khadijah Centre for Quran Memorisation at Al-Nour Mosque in Mawza District; the closure and looting of Al-Aqsa Association in Al-Turbah; shelling damage to seven mosques and places of worship; raids on mosques and the replacement of 21 preachers and imams; and the seizure of 35 government premises.

The report stated that the escalation had caused the complete closure of schools and universities, depriving hundreds of thousands of students of education.

The Network noted that Houthi militias had indiscriminately fired approximately 12,761 projectiles, using mortars, howitzers, artillery, Katyusha rockets and drones, with most attacks targeting populated neighbourhoods in Taiz Governorate, in addition to dozens of ballistic missiles.

The Network also received a report alleging that Houthi militias had used shells suspected of containing internationally prohibited toxic substances on the Al-Aqroud and Kahlan fronts. According to that report, civilians and members of the Popular Resistance suffered breathing difficulties, with some losing consciousness.

The Network also received reports of the use of gas canisters believed to contain tear gas in Usayfirah and other areas, including Al-Hujariyah, Sami’, Al-Turbah, the northern and northwestern fronts, and the Old Airport area. It stressed that repeated shelling, sniper attacks on civilians and the terrorisation of residents had caused severe psychological harm, particularly among children, women and older persons.

Most indiscriminate shelling was concentrated in Al-Shaqab, Al-Misrakh and Al-Aqroud; the villages of Kahlan, Al-Najadah, Al-Rahn, Al-Janahbi, Hisan and Al-A’awat in Sabr Al-Mawadim; the neighbourhoods of Al-Masbah, Sinah, Bir Basha, Usayfirah, Harat Al-Dar and the Old Airport; Al-Dhabah in Al-Ta’iziyah District; and Al-Dhahr in Jabal Habashi District. Other affected areas included Al-Hujariyah, Sami’, Al-Turbah, and areas to the north, west and east of the city.

The Network stated that the militias had tightened the siege from 3 September 2026 until the preparation of the report, establishing 26 unlawful checkpoints and roadblocks, blowing up a culvert on the Hayjat Al-Abd road, and cutting off the main road connecting Taiz to Lahj and onward to the interim capital, Aden, as well as other public roads.

The report explained that the restrictions included blocking the entry of food, medicines, petroleum products, oxygen cylinders and drinking water, and obstructing commercial supplies and local and international relief convoys. Affected supplies included flour, rice, sugar, vegetables, fruit, medicines for chronic diseases and childhood vaccines. It also recorded the prevention of drinking-water tankers from reaching residents, exposing approximately two million people to water shortages or forcing them to resort to contaminated sources.

It added that the siege had doubled the prices of some commodities on the black market, while the prices of others, particularly vegetables and fruit, had more than tripled, alongside shortages of essential goods and declining purchasing power. It noted that networks linked to the militias were profiting from the black market to finance their war effort.

The repercussions also included tens of thousands of people being unable to work and losing their sources of income, irrigation pumps ceasing to operate because of fuel shortages, and some money exchange centres suspending transfers and payments because of liquidity shortages. The violations further included the destruction of infrastructure, disruption of electricity, telecommunications and internet services, the undermining of state institutions, the replacement of military and security institutions with armed formations, and the looting of public funds.

The Network warned that blocking the fuel needed to operate generators at public hospitals and specialised centres, including cancer treatment and dialysis centres, threatened patients’ lives. Water shortages, electricity outages and deteriorating health care were also increasing the risks of disease, epidemics and deaths resulting from an inability to obtain treatment, particularly among children, older persons and people with chronic illnesses.

The Network stated that Houthi militias had converted several health centres in areas under their control in the governorate into military barracks. It also reported that they had looted more than 15 ambulances and repurposed them as military vehicles to transport weapons and ammunition in order to avoid being targeted by Yemeni aircraft.

The Yemeni Network warned of a worsening health and humanitarian crisis in Taiz as a result of the siege and attacks by the terrorist Houthi militias. It stated that shortages of medicines, fuel and oxygen threatened the continued provision of services at 12 hospitals, with 115 essential medicines nearing depletion. Supply shortages also threatened dialysis services, intensive care and neonatal incubators, while immunisation and nutrition services had stopped at dozens of facilities. Approximately 247,000 people had lost access to basic health care, and 345 health facilities in Taiz had sustained damage amid disease outbreaks resulting from the war and the Houthi siege.

Public hospitals in Taiz Governorate face an escalating shortage of the petroleum products needed to operate electricity generators. This has led to reductions in vital medical services and the shutdown of equipment and departments, amid warnings of serious consequences for patients’ lives, particularly newborns, patients with kidney failure and critically ill patients.

The crisis is intensifying as the siege continues, alongside shortages of operational resources, medicines and medical supplies. Hospitals rely primarily on generators to maintain intensive care units, neonatal incubators, ventilators and oxygen plants.

The Network affirmed that the violations had affected all segments of society, directly or indirectly, through killings, injuries, detention and displacement. The Houthi military escalation had displaced approximately 280,000 people from Taiz Governorate as they fled shelling and abuses against civilians.

The Network stated that Houthi militias had intensified the recruitment and use of children in combat, sniper attacks against women and children, attacks on residential neighbourhoods, ambulances, medical personnel and places of worship, the looting of property, road closures, and the obstruction of access to food, water and medicines.

It considered that the documented acts required accountability for militia leaders and their supporters, and that attacks on civilians, civilian objects and medical personnel, as well as starvation, collective punishment and child recruitment, amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity under international conventions and treaties.

The Network called on the international community and the United Nations to declare Taiz a disaster-stricken city and take urgent action to halt the attacks, lift the siege, reopen roads, secure the delivery of aid and essential supplies, protect civilians and service facilities, and ensure that those responsible for violations do not escape accountability.

Issued by

Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms

Friday, 30 October 2026