Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms Documents 66 Houthi Crimes and Violations in Taiz Governorate over the Past 73 Hours, Alongside Approximately 356 Projectiles Fired at Residential Areas

In its report issued today, Friday, 6 November 2026, the Network stated that the ongoing Houthi attacks killed (3) civilians—two women and one child—and injured (16) others, including (4) children and (12) women. The victims sustained injuries to various parts of their bodies as a result of indiscriminate shelling of populated neighborhoods and direct sniper attacks.

According to the report, indiscriminate Houthi shelling damaged (13) homes and civilian facilities, including (2) homes that were completely destroyed. The militia also blew up the home of poet Abu Assaf Mazen Al-Jaradi in the Shaab Muzaffar area. A further (7) privately owned civilian vehicles were damaged by indiscriminate shelling.

The Houthi militia also carried out a widespread abduction campaign in the Anbyan areas of Al-Misrakh District. The Network documented the abduction of (11) civilians, including Amin Ahmed Abdullah, the sheikh of Anbyan subdistrict, his brother Tawfiq Ahmed Abdullah, and his sons. Those abducted also included community and political figures and nurses working at Al-Misrakh Hospital. They were taken to unknown locations.

The abduction campaign was accompanied by raids and searches targeting (16) homes in Al-Misrakh District. Residents were seized from their homes in front of their children. Among the documented cases was the abduction of Mansour Abduljalil Yahya, a teacher in the Jaba area of Al-Misrakh District, and his son from their home.

According to the Network’s field team, the Houthi militia converted several health centers in districts under its control into storage facilities for weapons, ammunition, and drones, as well as command-and-control operations rooms, seeking to exploit their civilian character to avoid airstrikes by the Yemeni Armed Forces. The militia also forcibly recruited medical personnel and used ambulances to transport weapons and supply its fighters on various fronts, in clear violation of international laws and treaties.

The Network emphasized that using health centers and ambulances for military purposes undermines their humanitarian function, deprives thousands of residents of healthcare, and endangers patients and healthcare workers at a time when continuing attacks are increasing the need for medical and emergency services.

The report noted that neighborhoods and villages across Taiz Governorate continue to face shelling and sniper attacks, including Jara subdistrict in Al-Misrakh District, Al-Aqroud, Mashraa Wa Hadnan, Hisban, Usayfirah, Al-Mishrah, the Central Prison area, and villages in the districts of Mount Sabr. These attacks coincide with a siege that deepens residents’ suffering and makes travel and the evacuation of injured people along rugged mountain roads increasingly difficult.

The Network also documented the Houthi militia’s recruitment of young people from the Muhamasheen community in Al-Samiqah, in Al-Kalaibah subdistrict of Al-Maafir District. They were enrolled in ideological and training courses in preparation for deployment to battlefronts in southern Taiz Governorate. The Network warned against exploiting their vulnerable social and economic circumstances to draw them into combat, stressing the dangers of recruiting children and jeopardizing their lives, safety, and future.

The Network stated that the escalation continuing since early September in Taiz and neighboring areas—including shelling of neighborhoods, villages, and markets, the tightening of the siege, and the severing of supply routes—is worsening displacement, depriving residents of basic necessities, and exhausting the ability of families and healthcare facilities to cope with the crisis.

It explained that shortages of fuel, cooking gas, food, and medicines threaten the continuity of essential services and hospital operations. Hospitals continue to receive injured people and patients with limited resources, while ambulance crews face growing obstacles in reaching victims and transporting them for treatment. These conditions have particularly severe consequences for cancer patients and people with kidney failure, whose lives depend on regular treatment, medicines, and dialysis sessions, as well as for children, women, and older people.

The Network highlighted deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the villages of Al-Aqroud, Kahlan, and Al-Najadah, where besieged families face acute food shortages and fears that their remaining supplies will run out. Cooking fuel, including gas and firewood, is unavailable, and humanitarian assistance is absent. Most solar panels in the affected villages have also been damaged by bullets and shrapnel, leaving residents in darkness at night amid continuing shelling and compounding the suffering of children, older people, and those with chronic and serious illnesses.

The Network affirmed that targeting civilians, civilian objects, and medical facilities, and conducting indiscriminate attacks, are acts prohibited under international humanitarian law and constitute war crimes. It further stressed that abduction, detention and any accompanying enforced disappearance, as well as child recruitment, are grave violations requiring investigation and accountability. Some documented acts may also amount to crimes against humanity if established as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population and if the other legal elements are met.

The Network held the Houthi militia responsible for the documented attacks and their humanitarian consequences. It called for independent investigations encompassing everyone who planned, ordered, or carried out the attacks, and all others whose responsibility is established, including command responsibility where its requirements are met. It emphasized that continued impunity enables crimes to recur and compounds victims’ suffering.

The Network called on the United Nations, the international community, and bodies responsible for civilian protection to unequivocally condemn the documented attacks, including the attacks on Al-Suqya Health Center and the local market. It urged effective pressure to stop attacks on civilians, populated neighborhoods, medical facilities, and ambulance crews; end the use of healthcare facilities and medical transport for military purposes; and support documentation, investigation, and accountability efforts.

It also issued an urgent appeal for practical measures to protect residents of Taiz and affected areas in Lahj, lift the siege and restrictions obstructing civilian movement and access to food, medicine, and fuel, facilitate humanitarian assistance and the evacuation of injured people and patients, disclose the whereabouts of abducted civilians, ensure their safety, and release those arbitrarily detained.

The Network warned that continued shelling, sniper attacks, and abductions, alongside expanding attacks on healthcare facilities and civilian gatherings, threaten further casualties, displacement, and deprivation. It stressed that protecting civilians requires urgent, tangible measures to stop the attacks and ensure accountability, and that expressions of concern alone leave besieged families exposed to further killing and terror.

Issued by the Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms

Friday, 6 November 2026