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Burning rubbish chokes besieged Yemeni city of Taiz

By · Published by Everything Blog

In short

Sanitation trucks are unable to reach disposal sites due to severe fuel shortages and targeted gunfire, leaving mounds of rubbish along residential areas like Usaifira and the al-Saeed stream. With roughly 550 to 600 tonnes of waste generated every day, communities are burning debris in the streets, resulting in widespread suffocation and illness among children. These operational challenges intensified following a sharp escalation in regional fighting on October 5 alongside crippling funding cuts. The waste emergency coincides with wider municipal failures that have already halved local water production and pushed medical facilities to the brink.

Key points

  • Residents burning street rubbish are creating toxic fumes that trigger severe respiratory…: Residents burning street rubbish are creating toxic fumes that trigger severe respiratory illnesses, particularly among local children.
  • Insecurity and fuel deficits have halved municipal water production while pushing the loc…: Insecurity and fuel deficits have halved municipal water production while pushing the local healthcare system toward total collapse.
  • Conflict-related road blockades have severed vital humanitarian aid deliveries to hundred…: Conflict-related road blockades have severed vital humanitarian aid deliveries to hundreds of thousands of vulnerable city residents.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

Taiz residents face health risks as waste accumulates amid sniper fire, forcing people to burn it in the streets.

Taiz, Yemen — Black smoke from burning rubbish envelops the Usaifira area north of the Yemeni city of Taiz, while foul odours fill the air in surrounding residential neighbourhoods.

Along a waterway known as the al-Saeed stream, bags of uncollected household waste pile up – a scene that has become part of daily life for residents. They find themselves trapped between mounds of rubbish and smoke, in a crisis that not only reflects a breakdown in public services but poses a direct threat to their health and environmental safety.

Since early October, the city has seen a buildup of waste, with sanitation trucks unable to reach the main landfill site in the western part of the city controlled by Iranian-backed Houthi forces, who have laid siege to the city for a month, affecting hundreds of thousands of people. Fighting has escalated since October 5, when forces of the internationally recognised government — backed by a Saudi-led military coalition — launched a…

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