A Popular Resistance fighter examines the destruction at the national museum in Taiz (Reuters)

Houthi militias bombed the national museum in Taiz which resulted in all of its contents being burnt. In addition to this, all of its antiquities and rare manuscripts chronicling the history of Yemen and the governorate of Taiz have been reduced to ashes.

Houthi militias and forces loyal to the ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh continued their violent and unrestrained bombing of residential neighbourhoods in Taiz. In addition to this, villages and sites occupied by pro-legitimacy forces in the Al-Ahyuq area which is west of Taiz were bombarded with Katyusha missiles.

Tens of Houthi militia and forces loyal to the ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh were killed and wounded in coalition raids led by Saudi Arabia that targeted sites for storing the militia’s weapons in different parts of the city of Taiz and its outskirts. These raids resulted in heavy losses of lives and materiel.

In light of the Houthi militia’s refusal to adhere to the Security Council resolution 2216 which stipulates the release of prisoners and lifting the siege on the city of Taiz, activists from the city have resorted to initiatives to lift the siege there. A “convoy of conscience” was launched yesterday and participants will walk from the city of Tarbah carrying a large amount of humanitarian aid. Thousands of Taiz residents participated in the convoy and assembled in the municipal centre of Tarbah which is located 45 Km from Taiz.

The preparatory committee for the initiative held Houthi militias responsible “for the safety and security of the convoy or its violation and that of its participants directly or indirectly” due to the fact that the convoy will pass through the main road that extends from Tarbah to Taiz via Bir Basha. The organisation “Tadmeen Shabab” announced that humanitarian endeavours are ongoing and that aid is being distributed to the inhabitants of the city. It added that it had delivered 300,000 dialysis machines for patients with kidney failure at the Revolution General Hospital which funded the machines whilst the World Health Organization (WHO) paid for the cost of transportation and delivery.

The organisation’s coordinator Bassam Al-Hakimi said in a press statement that “the organisation has made efforts with all parties to facilitate the entry of this quantity of medicinal aid to the hospital and that the quantity has been delivered to the artificial kidney centre at the hospital. This will contribute to the alleviation of pain for patients at the centre.