Houthi Shelling and Sniper Attacks Kill Woman in Taiz
Houthi militia attacks in Taiz killed one woman and injured five civilians, including a child, amid a reported surge in indiscriminate shelling.
The Houthi militia killed a 50-year-old woman, Safia Hazzah Saif Al-Azzani, and injured five other civilians, including a child, through a series of shelling and sniper attacks in the Taiz Governorate. The fatal strike occurred around 10:00 p.m. on October 16, when a mortar shell hit Al-Azzani's residence in the Al-Awrat area of the Sabir Al-Mawadim district.
Additional attacks targeted residential areas southeast of Taiz city. In the al-Shaqb area of Sabir Al-Mawadim, shells hit homes, wounding a woman and a girl. A 29-year-old woman was wounded by sniper fire in the Kahlan area, and three brothers were injured by shrapnel in the Aqqaqa neighborhood.
Human rights organizations describe these incidents as part of a broader campaign of indiscriminate violence. Ishraq Al-Maqtari of the National Commission to Investigate Alleged Violations of Human Rights linked the shelling to a sustained campaign against civilians in Sabir Al-Mawadim and the Al-Masrakh district. The Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms documented 219 alleged Houthi crimes and violations in Taiz province over a 48-hour period ending Thursday. The Taiz Human Rights Centre condemned the attacks and called for accountability and the lifting of the siege on Taiz.
