After Yemen’s ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh made an unrestrained speech in which he called for an intensification of the ongoing fighting, Houthi-Saleh militias attacked the city of Taiz yesterday with various types of weapons and fiercely and intensely bombed the city and its neighborhoods, villages and rural areas. The siege on all entrances to the city has also been intensified, except for Khat Al-Dhubab where legitimate forces managed to lift the partial siege there in late August with the help of coalition aircraft.

Popular Resistance Sources on the ground told Asharq Al-Awsat that Houthi militia violently bombed the neighbourhoods of Taiz with Katyusha rockets and the most violent raids were carried out on the northern and western neighborhoods. Fierce offensives were also launched on various fronts.

The same sources confirmed that “what these militias are doing is in retaliation for casualties amongst rebel leaders on various fronts in Taiz where the army and the Popular Resistance achieved great progress and recaptured several sites that were under the control of militias. In addition to the continuous shelling on residential neighborhoods in the city and the countryside and the displacement of residents of some villages and areas still under the control of the rebels, these militias also bombed residential houses”.