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In Yemen, the country’s third-largest support, Taiz, has been rebranded as a sniper city.
Divided between government forces and the Houthi militia, Taiz is the longest-running battlefield in the Civil War, while it is the deadliest area and the most air-bombed city.
– One Friday morning a sniper shot me, they shot me in the whole stomach and a lot of blood came out. After I was shot, I remember how I was shaking, just shaking and cold, says 14-year-old Ali Salah.
He has large scars all over his stomach. His sister was also injured, but in a grenade attack.
Ali Salah lives in one of those most dangerous areas of the most dangerous city in Yemen. He lives on the front lines, a stone’s throw from the no-man’s-land of wild vegetation that separates government forces from the Houthi militia. Vegetation takes over the area as no one can enter the area, it is infested with mines and those who approach are at great risk of being shot by Houthimili snipers.
In this residential area, everyone has their scars, physical or mental. No one escapes the terror of war.
– Everyone has their traumas. There have also been many clashes here. At one point, 12 people died on the same day here, Abdullah says.
He shot himself on the hip of a sniper and says the targets are usually civilians, often children.
– They shoot so many civilians. I have a brother who was injured here and my other brother was shot and killed, he says.
Taiz was known as Yemen’s Capital of Culture, well-educated. Now it is known as the most dangerous city. What used to be a wide highway between Taiz and Sanaa is now a war-torn twilight. The city has only one road to the government controlled area, the other roads are controlled by the Houthis.
For those who live on the other side and they need hospital care, the journey between the two districts takes up to seven hours. Despite the fact that the hospital is in sight and could be reached in a few minutes if it weren’t for the war and the front that is impossible to pass through.
Kharia, 60, was also shot and forced to undergo surgery to remove part of her liver.
– I don’t know why they wanted to attack a woman. So many have died here, I really don’t understand why it happens, he says.
Like everyone I talk to, he lives in constant fear.
– We are scared and worried. Every time I hear gunshots or grenades I start to shake but at the same time we cannot leave our houses. Where would we go? He wonders.
Also father of two children Salam Mohammed is concerned.
– Every time I leave my house, I feel great concern for my family. We get attacked so often here, so I’m not just worried about my kids, I’m worried about the neighbors’ children and the neighborhood’s children, he says.
