Yemen War Casualties: Market Strike and Taiz Siege
Houthi officials report 13 dead in a northern market bombing, while the government requests aid to break the blockade of Taiz.
By Javier Sanders ·
Thirteen people died in Saudi-led airstrikes on a crowded market in northern Yemen on Wednesday, according to the Houthi-run Health Ministry. The ministry said 16 others were wounded, including three women. Shops and nearby houses sustained heavy damage.
The strikes hit a central market near a gas station in al-Hazm, the capital of al-Jawf province. The Houthi ministry called the attack a war crime and demanded an international investigation. The Saudi-backed Yemeni government did not issue an immediate statement.
In the southern city of Aden, an Associated Press reporter witnessed explosions that shattered windows at the airport building and nearby homes. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree urged everyone at the airport to evacuate. He claimed a Saudi military cargo plane carrying weapons was present, though he provided no evidence.
Yemeni government officials appealed to the international community for help protecting civilians in Taiz. The Houthis have tightened their siege of the city, which serves as a gateway to the country’s south. The city has taken in about half of Yemen’s population displaced by the latest fighting.
Nabil Shamsan, the Taiz governor, said residents lost access to about 3 million liters of water from wells in Wadi al-Dubab. He stated the area is now under Houthi control. The Associated Press could not independently verify that claim. Shamsan said fighting intensified as Houthis deployed reinforcements to multiple fronts, encircling the city on all four sides.
Eshraq al-Maqtari, a legal affairs minister in Yemen’s internationally recognized government, said more than 2,000 projectiles and explosives struck Taiz city districts in recent days. She called for measures to cut off the rebels’ weapon supplies and funding.
In Belgrade, Serbia, a police officer guarding the Israeli Embassy shot and killed a man who attacked him with a knife just after midnight on Wednesday. The officer was from an elite unit. Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said police are treating the incident as a terrorist attack and raised the threat level to the highest. Dacic described the attacker as a minor who shouted Allahu Akbar while wielding two knives. The officer was slightly wounded in the face and killed the assailant in self-defense.
Two Israeli strikes in southern Gaza killed one person and wounded at least six others on Wednesday, according to health officials at Nasser Hospital. More than 1,550 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began in October 2025. The territory’s health ministry maintains detailed records that U.N. agencies regard as generally reliable.
