More than 135,000 people fled their homes in Yemen’s southwestern Taiz province over a roughly two-month period, a government minister said on Wednesday.
Social Affairs and Labor Minister Mukhtar Omar Saleh Al-Yafei presented the figures during a news conference in the temporary capital Aden. The data was reported by the state-run SABA news agency.
The documented figures span from August 10 to October 15. The minister attributed the displacement to a period of intense military escalation and a siege imposed by the Houthi group on parts of the province.
Field monitoring recorded the displacement of 19,600 families comprising 135,587 individuals. That total includes 52,979 children, according to the minister.
The ministry documented 494 violations against civilians during the observation window. These incidents included 79 civilian deaths and 206 injuries.
Property damage was widespread across the affected areas. Field monitors reported destruction to 56 residential buildings, 12 educational facilities, eight health facilities, and 10 roads and bridges, alongside general damage to public services and other private property.
Al-Yafei appealed for a broader humanitarian response. He pointed to funding shortfalls and significant gaps in essential services as major challenges.
Taiz Governor Nabil Shamsan also spoke at the briefing. He stated that more than 1.3 million people reside across six districts impacted by the ongoing siege, adding that shelling has damaged or destroyed roughly 676 homes.
Shamsan warned that services at 12 hospitals and 18 health centres faced severe threats. In Houthi-controlled districts, 120 health facilities stopped operating entirely, while another 66 functioned only partially. This disruption affected medical care for more than 186,000 children under the age of five and nearly 23,000 pregnant women.
Taiz is Yemen’s most populous province and remains divided between government forces and the Houthis. Government forces hold Taiz city, the provincial capital, alongside other parts of the region.
Yemen has suffered through a civil war since the Houthis seized Sanaa and several other provinces in September 2014. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in March 2015 to support the internationally recognised government.
