Closure of main roads between governorates.. Houthi terrorism cuts off Yemenis

English - Wednesday 18 May 2022 الساعة 10:27 am
Sana'a, NewsYemen, private:

The terrorist Houthi group has set new conditions in the face of government and international demands to lift the siege on Taiz and open its roads imposed by its militias seven years ago.

And the group’s leader, Muhammad Ali al-Houthi, published in his tweet on Twitter, the group’s conditions for lifting the siege on Taiz, starting with “ending the fighting,” followed by “raising the positions on both sides,” after which the roads are opened, according to his speech.

These conditions dispelled the atmosphere of optimism that prevailed during the past hours with a breakthrough in the file of the siege of Taiz after the launch of the first commercial flight from Sanaa airport, which accelerates the lifting of the siege on Taiz, the step that the Houthi group must take in accordance with the armistice agreement.

Since the beginning of the war, the governorate has suffered from the Houthi militia’s closure of the main road linking the city of Taiz with the militia-controlled areas in the north of the governorate, forcing the residents to resort to mountainous and rugged secondary roads that made the journey between the Al-Hawban area and the city of Taiz take about 6 hours, when it was not required  Just over 10 minutes before the war.

The residents suffer great suffering as a result of the Houthi militia's refusal to open the main road, although the fighting fronts in the seam areas around the road in the north of the city have been stagnating for 6 years.

Several attempts were made to open the way through local and tribal mediation, but they failed due to the Houthi group's rejection of all solutions and proposals for that.

The suffering of the people of Taiz is matched by a similar suffering experienced by travelers between the northern and southern governorates as a result of the Houthi militia’s closure of the most important main roads linking them, despite the almost complete cessation of confrontations on most fronts on the lines of contact.

The most prominent of these roads is the Aden-Taiz road, which has been cut off by the Houthi militia between the Karsh and Shuraijah areas since 2016 after it dug trenches, erected barricades and completely mined the area, and to this day it still refuses to reopen it despite the cessation of fighting there.

The closure of this road, which is one of the most important roads linking Aden and Sana’a and is a main road for trucks transporting goods, pushed travelers to another road, which is Al-Dhale’ road (Qataba - Damt - Ibb - Sana'a), but the road was cut off as a result of the clashes that erupted in late 2018.

With the confrontations stopping by 2020, attempts and mediations were made to reopen the road, the most important of which was the mediation led by the Coordination Body of the Civil Alliance for Peace and National Reconciliation headed by Dr. Hammoud Al-Awdi between the Houthi group and the authorities in Al-Dhalea Governorate.

The Houthi militia’s absolute rejection of the idea prompted the Coordination Body to propose opening another road, which is the (Al-Fakher-Ibb) road, and announced in November 2020 that an agreement had been reached to open the road after unconditional approval by the governor of Al-Dhalea and the Transitional Council forces that are leading the fighting there, but the Houthi group It quickly announced her withdrawal from the agreement, although it was amended three times to please it.

The closure of these main roads has made it difficult for citizens to move between the southern and northern governorates, as the road available to travelers from Sanaa to Aden has become a rugged branch line from the Al Rahda area in Taiz through the Qubaita Mountains of the Lahj governorate, while trucks resort to a narrow mountain road through the Yafa area to reach the governorate  Al-Bayda and from there to Sanaa.

The Houthi militia has been intransigent in closing the main roads, making the journey between Sana’a and Aden, which used to take 5-6 hours before the war, now takes 12 hours – 15 hours on secondary roads for small and medium cars to a full day for mass transit buses and trucks.

Among the important roads closed by the militias, the Aqabat Thara road linking between the Lauder district in the Abyan governorates and Al-Bayda has been closed by the militias since August of the year 2015. The road represents the only artery for the central region of Abyan governorate.

Similar to what happened in Al-Dhalea, attempts were made by social figures and dignitaries from the governorates of Abyan and Al-Bayda last year to open the road, but they failed with the intransigence of the Houthi militia, without giving any reasons for their refusal to alleviate the suffering of the Yemenis.

The intransigence of the militias was evident after the step taken by the joint forces in late April to open the Hays-Al-Jarrahi road in front of travelers to alleviate their suffering after repairing roads and bridges. However, the Houthi militias started firing on the next day towards cars and motorcycles that tried to pass through the road,  The militias also cut the asphalt line after the Al-Baghil area.