Life in Yemen's 'Sniper City'

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Taiz has a dramatic setting on the side of Yemen’s tallest mountain, Jabal Sabir, boasting a vertiginous castle on a mountain spur. The frontline of the Yemeni civil war has run through the city since 2015, earning it the unhappy nickname of ‘sniper city’.

It’s impossible for its residents to escape the impact of conflict. The main highway is cut off by the frontlines. People and goods must use rough improvised roads to reach the city, and water supplies are largely on the other side of the battle lines. In the neighbourhoods that were most fought over, there is widespread destruction. Buildings have been flattened by airstrikes, homes are peppered with bullet holes, cars have been ploughed into street barricades and the no-man’s-land between the forces is mined and booby-trapped. Drones buzz overhead and at night there is the crackle of sporadic gunfire.

Yet people live here. People have returned close to the frontline running through the city because poverty has forced them back. HALO has been one of the few international organisations working in Taiz for the last five years, clearing landmines and unexploded ordnance from the streets and damaged buildings.

Fatima Kassim has been able to return and visit her home after HALO removed an unexploded projectile that punctured one of her walls. The hole, stuffed with plastic bags, waits to be repaired, as does the spray of bullet damage. Fatima is still too scared to live full-time in her home.

‘The effects of the war continue to traumatise people here. Like anyone, all we want is to be able to live in a safe home and in a safe community.’
- Fatima Kassim, Taiz

^{Credit: The HALO Trust}

The loss suffered by Dalila Abdo Ahmed has been more profound. Her family were landowners on the edge of the city near the frontlines. On her wedding day in 2018, she was trying to reach her new husband’s family home when she and two cousins walked into a minefield close by. Dalila suffered a double amputation of both legs below the knee. She was rescued by her father who heard her cries. Five other victims have been killed and injured by the same minefield.

For Dalila there was more cruelty. While she was fighting for her life in intensive care, her new husband took her father to court seeking a return of the customary bride price, sometimes known as the mahr, before divorcing her. The reason her husband did not come to Dalila’s home to collect her on the day of their wedding, as would be traditional, was because he feared being caught by soldiers.

Dalila has struggled to find prosthetics in Taiz that allow her to move with comfort and lives with her family in some isolation, despite being in the centre of the city. ‘I have told my story several times,’ she says. ‘But it doesn’t seem to bring any help.’

‘I feel a grief. A loss for my youth and the loss of a chance to have a family. We are displaced in Taiz city, and our family home is now occupied by soldiers from the other side.’
- Dalila Abdo Ahmed, Taiz

^{Credit: The HALO Trust}

Deadly remnants of war have left vast areas of farmland, water sources and communities contaminated, preventing families from rebuilding their lives.

Extreme poverty and insecurity, as well as escalating regional crises, have increased the threat of conflict in Yemen. An estimated 18 million people face severe hunger. Over a million children suffer acute malnutrition risking lifelong harm.

Clearing explosives is a critical step towards ending the cycle of violence and aiding Yemen’s recovery.

To find out more about the life-saving work of The HALO Trust and become part of building a safer, mine-free world, please visit www.halotrust.org