UN warns Taiz aid route is closed as Shabwa attack death toll rises to 73
The UN human rights chief called for aid access to Yemen’s Taiz after a key road closed. In Shabwa, provincial authorities reported 73 killed in Monday’s attack on a training camp.
UN human rights chief Volker Türk warned on Tuesday, 20 October, that the closure of Taiz’s supply route to Aden was blocking aid and essential goods from reaching the Yemeni city. In a separate development, authorities in Shabwa province raised the reported death toll from Monday’s attack on a government security forces training camp to 73.
Taiz supply route closure threatens aid access
Türk said the Houthis’ closure of the only supply route linking Taiz to Aden placed civilians at grave risk. He called for humanitarian relief to enter immediately and for civilians who wished to leave to be allowed safe passage. Al Jazeera reported that Houthi forces had encircled Taiz again after capturing a major road linking the city to southern Yemen.
The World Food Programme warned that shifting front lines and road closures had cut 800,000 people off from lifesaving assistance, most of them in Taiz, according to Al Jazeera. The report said prices of basic goods had multiplied amid shortages. Yemen’s internationally recognised government appealed to the United Nations to intervene and lift the blockade, warning that it threatened more than four million people.
Al Jazeera reported that fighting in Taiz governorate killed at least 32 civilians between 1 August and 19 October, including 14 children. Across Yemen, more than 18 million people face severe food insecurity, the report said. Türk urged all parties to avoid explosive weapons with wide-area effects in populated places and to take precautions to protect civilians.
Shabwa training camp attack toll rises to 73
Shabwa’s provincial media office said 73 people had been killed and 14 remained missing after Monday’s strike, Reuters reported. Local authorities said three ballistic missiles hit security forces during training. Provincial governor Awad al-Wazir said more than 200 people were injured. The death toll and missing-person count are figures reported by the provincial office.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the camp was run by Saudi forces, Reuters reported. Saudi authorities had not immediately responded to the agency’s request for comment. The strike came amid renewed fighting between the Houthis and Yemen’s internationally recognised government after the group advanced towards territory near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in September.
Yemen’s war began when the Houthis seized Sanaa in 2014, driving the government south. A Saudi-led intervention began in 2015, and a 2022 truce held until this year, according to Reuters. The renewed fighting has again put civilian access to food and aid at risk in Taiz.
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Sources and context
- Yemen’s Taiz faces deadly siege, as Shabwah death toll risesAl Jazeera
- Death toll from Houthi attack on Yemen training camp rises to 73Reuters, republished by Al-Monitor
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.