Tanks Fire as Fighting Erupts on Outskirts of Taiz, Yemen's Besieged Third City

Fighting flared again on Wednesday on the western outskirts of Taiz, Yemen's third-largest city. Government forces and allied Popular Resistance fighters clashed with Houthi fighters near the city's old airport and Jabal Han mountain, with footage showing a government tank firing towards Houthi positions as gunfire echoed across the area.

The internationally recognised Yemeni government said its forces repelled the attack. It also reported air strikes on Houthi positions, vehicles and a missile launchpad to the west, south and east of the city.

Taiz has long been effectively besieged. Houthi forces have largely encircled the city and cut key supply routes, including the main road to Aden, the interim capital of the internationally recognised government.

The blockade is being felt in every layer of daily life. Because access to the city's main landfill has been disrupted, rubbish is piling up along major streets.

Sanitation workers say they can no longer reach the dumping site because of the clashes and have resorted to burning waste in the streets. Footage showed waste burning beside busy roads, thick smoke rising over neighbourhoods and goats feeding among the rubbish.

Aid agencies said fuel shortages were also disrupting water pumps, hospitals and waste collection, deepening fears of disease outbreaks.

One resident summed up the city's plight: 'If we don't die from Houthi shelling, we'll die from this rubbish.'

Taiz has been one of the central battlegrounds of Yemen's long war. For years, government forces and the Houthis have fought over control of the city and its access routes, and it is the city's civilian residents who have paid the price.

Wednesday's clashes showed how active the front line remains. Even after the government claimed to have repelled the attack, the Houthi encirclement held, while basic services inside the city — water, healthcare and sanitation — continue to break down piece by piece.

There is still no sign of whether the fighting will ease in the coming days. But if it continues, observers fear Taiz's humanitarian situation will deteriorate further — a city where, alongside the war itself, rubbish and disease have now become equally serious threats to its people.