A child was killed on Sunday by sniper fire from a member of the Iran-backed Houthi group while returning from school in the city of Taiz, in another incident that adds a new name to the list of civilian casualties along the city’s front lines.
Local sources told Al-Hal Net that 14-year-old Ibrahim Jalal Amin was struck by a direct bullet in Al-Rawda neighborhood, north of Taiz, while walking through a street near his home. He was taken to a hospital, where he later died of his wounds.
A daily route that ends in death
According to consistent accounts, the shot was fired from an elevated Houthi-controlled position overlooking residential neighborhoods, sites residents have long complained are used to target people passing through the city.
There was nothing unusual in the child’s route. He left school with his sister and took the same road he always used, before a bullet cut short that daily routine.
The incident was a reminder of the daily reality faced by entire neighborhoods in Taiz, where nearby roads, from front lines to open spaces, have become dangerous.
Another injury the same day
In another incident the same day, 26-year-old Shifa Hatem Ali Rashid was wounded by Houthi sniper fire as she left her home in the village of Al-Ahtoub, in Jabal Habashi district in the western countryside of Taiz.
Local sources said the bullet pierced her right leg, causing serious injuries in an area that has seen similar incidents in recent months.
The incident came after her sister was wounded in a previous sniper attack in the same area, deepening residents’ fears of continued targeting of civilians near their homes.
Repeated condemnations of a persistent pattern
Over the years of war, the city of Taiz in southwestern Yemen has recorded hundreds of sniper attacks on civilians, including children and women, especially in neighborhoods near the front lines.
Local and international organizations have previously condemned these incidents, describing them as a violation of the rules of international humanitarian law, which require parties to the conflict to protect civilians.
These groups say that the continued sniper attacks without accountability leave residents facing a constant threat in a city that has not truly escaped the war, even as the pace of fighting has eased.
Between a child killed on the way home from school and a woman wounded outside her house, the same scene keeps repeating in Taiz, where war does not need full-scale fighting to reach civilians’ lives.
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