Inside Yemen's front-line city as Houthis battle for control

What the report says

BBC World News reports from Taiz, Yemen, where correspondent Nawal Al-Maghafi was granted rare access to the front line with pro-government forces as fighting with the Houthis intensified. The report describes a tense mountain battlefield on the city’s western approaches, where soldiers, checkpoints and drone activity underscore how fragmented and dangerous the conflict remains.

The BBC says the clashes follow the Houthi capture of the Red Sea port of Mokha and territory near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a strategically important shipping corridor linking Europe and Asia. Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, sits between Houthi-held and government-held areas and has long been a major battleground in the country’s civil war. The report notes that both sides are preparing for further escalation, while the government side is backed by a Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis are accused by the coalition and Western and UN sources of receiving support from Iran.

The article also highlights the civilian cost of the fighting. Families have fled nearby villages and Mokha, hospitals are treating wounded fighters and civilians, and displaced people are arriving at camps with little or nothing. The BBC cites a 12-year-old girl badly injured by shrapnel and residents who say shelling and gunfire have made daily life precarious. The report said the UN has counted around 130,000 newly displaced people in Yemen this month, illustrating how quickly the fighting is worsening conditions for civilians.