Houthi Explosives Sever Lifeline Road to Besieged Taiz, Deepening Yemen’s Humanitarian Crisis

• by Shimanta Das
• October 28, 2026

The Iran-backed Houthi armed group on October 18, 2026, used explosives to severely damage a critical road into Yemen’s besieged city of Taiz, putting civilian lives and welfare at increased risk, Human Rights Watch said today. The Hayjat al-Abd road has been the main entry point for food, medicine, and fuel to reach residents of Taiz city, which the Houthis have besieged since 2015. The city has remained under Yemeni government control, but the Houthis have cut off vital roads connecting it to the rest of the country, notably the port city of Aden, the Yemeni government’s current capital.

“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. Human Rights Watch has found that the Houthis’ blocking of roads into Taiz has severely restricted civilians’ ability to move in and out of the city and impeded the flow of essential goods, including water, and humanitarian access to the civilian population. The destruction of the Hayjat al-Abd road is a blatant violation of international humanitarian law and exacerbates an already catastrophic humanitarian situation.

The attack comes amid escalating Houthi aggression. On Sunday, the Houthis seized the al-Safiya area and cut the main supply road linking Taiz with Aden, effectively encircling Taiz city, according to four security sources cited by the Agence France-Presse (AFP). “We were informed that the Houthis had taken control of the al-Safiya area, where they cut the main road and took control of the police station,” a police source in the area told AFP. The military sources said the Houthis had halted traffic on the main road between Taiz and Aden, while fighting in the area remained ongoing. This strategic encirclement leaves the civilian population of Taiz increasingly isolated and vulnerable.

Meanwhile, the Houthis continue to threaten regional stability. Iran-backed Houthi rebels targeted a commercial cargo ship Monday in the Red