Yemen 1st-Hand: In Taiz, Even the Women Carry Guns

Young Woman in Taiz "You've Got a Problem?" (Yemen Times)Emad al-Saqqaf reports for Yemen Times:

For the inhabitants of Taiz the first hours of the night are a living hell as they anxiously anticipate the armed conflict between the regime and armed opposition to start once again. Nights have been like this for months.

Signs of militarization have spread through the streets and even the women are carrying guns and rifles. The violence has spilled over from the revolution’s Freedom Square and security installations to almost every street and alley. And many innocent civilians have been killed in the process.

The latest of this conflict’s battles occurred on Tuesday night when violent clashes erupted between two armed groups in Jamal Street at the city center. 

It started off as an argument between fish vendors in the market and an armed group. Soon gunshots flared in the air, killing one man and injuring others, as well as damaging several vehicles that were parked around the market. 

“The fight started verbally then everyone simply picked their guns and fired them randomly into the air. Unfortunately it was the flower vendor down the street, a father of six, who was killed,” said an eyewitness who was in the market during the fight. “The armed men eventually kidnapped one of the fish sellers and we don’t know where he is now.”

Such an incident has become common in Taiz even in recently peaceful residential areas such as Al-Rawda, Al-Siteen, Al-Masbah and Wadi Al-Qadhi.

“The problem is that the conflict is no longer an issue of the revolution. It has become so random and chaotic. Lawlessness is spread across the city,” said journalist Salah Al-Dakak, who lives in Taiz. “It was from here [Taiz] that the peaceful revolution first started on February 11, but today it is hijacked by armed tribes and Islamic extremists with guns.” 

He was upset that Taiz, which was known as a center of culture and education throughout Yemen, is now the most armed and violent. “There are those who try to instill a culture of violence and using arms. Some use the name of the revolution and others use the name of the legitimate state, but both are two sides of the same coin: they are all mercenaries and warlords.”

Earlier this week the Republican Guards and the armed opposition fought for control of Gurra Mountain on the western edge of Taiz, a strategic location in the fighting. The armed revolutionary opposition has also surrounded the Khaled bin Al-Waleed Army Camp, also west of Taiz, and the Central Security Camp near the Republican Palace.

Mohammed Saif lives near Gurra Mountain. “I live in continuous fear,” he says. “My family is terrified and my children don’t go to school because of regular armed conflict. When the revolution turned violent it ruined everything, it legitimized armed conflict and only caused more deaths among the citizens,” he complained.

He added that both sides harass the residents, using their homes as hideouts and defense points. Many locals in that area have already abandoned their homes while others, like Saif himself, preferred to stay in their homes even if it meant death.

“Last Monday the armed opposition tried to use RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades] to frighten off the state security who are not on the mountain top,” explained Saif. “But some of them fell on homes instead and caused much damage.”

The armed conflict in Taiz is connected to the failed political solutions in the capital Sana’a. Taiz has become a Yemeni version of Libya’s Benghazi, and confidential sources have confirmed a large-scale recruitment scheme run by the opposition, pulling men from all around the country to join them in armed conflict in Taiz.

In the last month, a mediation committee composed of international actors, tribal leaders and parties to the conflict has brokered three separate truces. Each of the truces has been broken by one or both of the conflicting sides.

The latest truce was inked on Tuesday, Oct. 4. It included the removal of all armed militants and equipment from both sides, especially from the strategic advantage points such as Gurra Mountain, the Supreme Institute for Medical Sciences, and Al-Thawra Hospital. “However,” said one of the opposition members of the mediation committee, “the local councils did not commit to the truce and are still maneuvering to prolong the life of an already dying regime.”

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