Taiz fighting intensifies as gas station strike kills two

Fighting around Taiz, the besieged provincial capital of Yemen, has intensified to the point where basic infrastructure is under direct fire. On Tuesday, the Houthi-run Health Ministry reported that government forces struck a gas station late Monday, killing at least two people and wounding several others.

Anees al-Asbahi, the ministry's spokesperson, placed the blame squarely on the Yemeni government. Houthi-controlled Al-Masirah TV broadcast footage showing two bodies in bags and injured patients receiving care at a hospital. The Associated Press has not independently verified these casualty figures or the cause of the strike.

The conflict has expanded beyond the city limits. Brig. Gen. Turki al-Malki, a spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition, stated on X that forces intercepted four Houthi drones targeting southern Saudi Arabia and three ballistic missiles aimed at the eastern region. He offered no further details on the interception, and the claim remains unverified.

A separate dimension of the crisis emerged in a report released by Human Rights Watch on Monday. The organization found that Houthi rebels used explosives to severely damage the Hayjat al-Abd road, a critical entry point for food, fuel, and medicine into Taiz. The group warned that the Oct. 18 attack may violate international law if the goal was to disable infrastructure indispensable to civilian survival.

The destruction of the road has worsened an already dire humanitarian situation in the city. The report notes that the damage has potentially harmed civilians by cutting off essential supplies to a population that is heavily dependent on this single route for aid and commerce.

The dispute over Taiz is also drawing in regional powers. Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthi political bureau, told the Associated Press in a video interview that Egypt’s recent decision to support Saudi Arabia constitutes a hostile action. He argued that the move draws the Arab world's most populous nation into what he called aggression against Yemen.

Egyptian lawmakers approved the measure requested by President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in a closed session on Monday. Egypt’s highest security body had previously pledged to provide all necessary and possible forms of support to Saudi Arabia to defend its security, resources, and territorial integrity.