Houthis Seize Strategic Port in Yemen Amid Intensifying Conflict

In Taiz, Yemen's third-largest city and cultural capital, the sound of gunfire and shelling fills the air. The city is caught in the middle of a brutal battle between Saudi-backed pro-government forces and Houthi fighters.

The Houthis have been making extensive use of drones alongside other weapons in their latest offensive. Their main outside supplier is Iran, which has provided them with weapons, funding, and military advice, according to Saudi Arabia, Western countries, and UN experts. However, Iran has denied supplying weapons to the Houthis.

The fighting around Taiz has intensified since the Houthis seized the strategic Red Sea port of Mokha on September 10, contributing to a rise in oil prices as fears rose of further disruption to supplies from the region. The city is home to close to a million people and sits at a vital intersection between Houthi-controlled areas in northern Yemen and government-held ones in the south.

We met families who had fled Mokha and villages hit by fighting, arriving at the al-Monig displacement camp with hundreds of tents. Maryam Saleh told us she walked barefoot from Mokha with her husband and five children after their youngest son was killed by shrapnel. 'We thought we were finished,' she said.