UN calls for truce in Yemen’s Taiz province

DUBAI: The United Nations called for a humanitarian truce in the Yemeni province of Taiz after government forces captured a town from Houthi militia in heavy fighting that has spurred allegations of war crimes.

James McGoldrick, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, voiced alarm at increasing bloodshed in the southwestern Taiz Governorate, particularly the Al Sarari area, and the closure of Taiz city, the regional capital. He urged all warring parties to agree immediately to a “humanitarian pause” to protect civilians and cooperate with humanitarian agencies to help treat and evacuate war-wounded and deliver urgently needed medicine into the embattled zone.

McGoldrick warned both parties that holding civilian populations hostage and depriving them of humanitarian assistance was illegal under international humanitarian law.

Hadi supporters control most of Taiz, Yemen’s third largest city with an estimated pre-war population of 300,000, but it is sealed off by Houthi forces on three sides. There were conflicting reports on the fighting in Al Sarari.

A Houthi envoy on a ceasefire committee assigned to oversee a shaky truce in Taiz wrote to the UN that Sarari residents had been subjected to “war crimes”.

Hadi supporters have denied allegations.