Houthis cut vital supply road to Yemen's Taiz: security sources to AFP

DUBAI: Yemen's Houthi rebels have severed a crucial supply road connecting Taiz to Aden, the interim capital of the internationally recognized government, according to four security sources, AFP reported on Sunday. The road, which passes through the al-Safiya area, was brought under Houthi control, according to a police source in the region.

Three Yemeni military sources confirmed Houthi control over the area and the supply route, effectively surrounding Taiz city. The military sources also stated that the Houthis have halted traffic on the main road linking Taiz to Aden, with ongoing fighting in the region. The Houthi advance comes after days of intense fighting between the group and government forces in and around Taiz, a city currently under government control but besieged from multiple directions by Houthi fighters.

The city remains one of the main battlegrounds in Yemen's civil war, which reignited in July amid a broader Middle East conflict. Following several years of relative calm, Yemen has been engulfed in a vast humanitarian crisis. In September, the Houthis launched a rapid offensive that saw them seize Yemen's entire Red Sea coast, including the strategically important Bab al-Mandab Strait, a key shipping lane.

Meanwhile, they have imposed a blockade on Saudi energy exports, already strained by Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The Yemeni civil war began in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa from the government, subsequently taking control of much of the country's northern regions. Saudi Arabia intervened in the conflict the following year as the head of an international coalition.