Drinking water supplies dwindle in Yemeni city besieged by Houthi rebels
The Yemeni city of Taiz is facing a severe humanitarian crisis as a Houthi-led siege restricts access to water and essential supplies. Residents are struggling with extreme water rationing and soaring prices for basic goods.
Why it matters
The weaponization of water and basic resources in the Yemeni civil war poses a grave threat to the survival of over a million civilians.
Drinking water has been scarce for over a decade in Taiz, but the problem has reached crisis levels in recent weeks as Iran-backed Houthi rebels besiege Yemen's third-largest city in their escalating conflict with government forces.
The needs of Taiz's more than 1 million residents are now barely being met, humanitarian groups say, as access to wells is limited, desalination plants run low on fuel and water delivery trucks are largely prevented from entering the city.
Families are rationing every drop. Before Taiz came under siege, Hadil al-Shahid and her two young children used about 10 liters (about 2.6 gallons) of bottled water per day for drinking and cooking; now they are making the same amount last about four days.
"We stopped drinking coffee and tea, which we used to drink daily," al-Shahid said in a phone interview.
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