Over 1,500 Yemeni civilians killed by Houthis in Taiz

Houthi rebels and their allies have killed more than 1,500 civilians and destroyed schools and other institutions in random shelling on the besieged Western Yemeni Taiz governorate, a Saudi newspaper reported on Wednesday.

More than 10,000 children were also orphaned while over 15,000 people were injured, many of them seriously, ‘Sabq’ said, quoting Mohammed Al Qarmi, information director in the coordinated humanitarian aid agencies in the stricken city.

He said Taiz, with an area of around d 12,600 sq km, is suffering from “extremely serious” humanitarian conditions and needs urgent international intervention.

“I can tell you that Taiz is now a disaster area.

“The situation is deteriorating daily and is in need for a serious coordinated stand by all to end the siege around it,” he said.

His figures showed 1,562 civilians were killed by the coup rebels and more than 1,000 children were orphaned. Citing figures by aid agencies, he said 15,641 people were also injured, many of them seriously, adding that most of them need to be evacuated.

“We have been unable to evacuate the injured because of the siege. The situation is very bad and nearly 70 per cent of the governorate’s population of about 3.4 million have fled.

“Also 3,276 houses have also been destroyed by the Houthis and their allies while nearly 90 per cent of the private sector employees have stopped work. Around 95 per cent of the hospitals have also been shut.”

Qarmi said diseases have started to spread in the governorate and that nearly 28,000 people have been infected, including 3,400 children.

More than 200 people have died of diseases while about 830 children have been reported killed or wounded.

“We also have information that 156 educational institutions have been damaged or totally destroyed.

“Many of them were used by the Houthis and their allies as military bases. As a result, hundreds of thousands of students have been deprived of schools.”