Photos of the barriers that were constructed by the people in the Rawdha Post Area - Khuyut

Ramadan nights are distinguished by their special flavor and atmosphere embroidered with joy and nightlife in particular, as lights light up the dark nights, and streets and shops are usually crowded with shoppers and wanderers at night.

Catalogue to escape the Sniper!

In the city that has been besieged for years, the situation is completely different near the front lines, east, west and north, where residents live a miserable life troubled with fear and shrouded in darkness, especially during the nights of Ramadan. You can see this clearly when people go out at night - especially women and children - from their homes in those areas, where they take specific paths to exit from the alleys of residential zones and neighborhoods adjacent to the sources of fire that snipers launch from the overlooking areas and buildings.

There, thousands of residents live on the edge of the dangers that threaten them, but they challenge their great fears as poverty and deprived conditions force them to live in dwellings made of rubble, ruins of war, and amid neighborhoods lurking in snipers. In their movements, the residents of these neighborhoods follow precise lanes towards life on the opposite side, guided by what resembles an accurate "catalogue", which they memorize by heart, just as all personals of the military and security points do where they station at the exits of dilapidated residential zones.

A number of buildings in the Al-Rawdha post neighborhood opposite the Central Security Camp, where the Ansar Allah group - the Houthis are stationed

A life shattered by darkness

Part of this miserable situation was observed by the author of this report when he was riding a minibus from the middle of Jamal Street, which was full of busy life during the nights of Ramadan. Shortly, a group of women got in the same bus and asked the driver to take them to the "Hawdh Al-Ashraf" square located on the eastern side of the city and adjacent to the main frontline areas, which include the Al-Camp neighborhood, Al-Qasr, and Sana'a car station, where the Houthi gunmen and the group's snipers are positioned.

As soon as the minibus passes the street adjacent to the People's School and approaches the Hawdh al-Ashraf roundabout and the beginning of the street leading to Al-Sameel popular market, you will notice that the features of life have clearly dissipated. Darkness descends a few steps away, the place is engulfed in darkness, the shops are almost closed. As closer as you get to the frontline areas and close to the street end, the manifestations of fear that surround the far place are evident, unlike the atmosphere of Ramadan and its eventful life at night.

The women left the minibus past a security point located at the entrance to the Camp neighborhood and the old and the abandoned governorate building for years, then they take a path to cross through the perimeter of that security checkpoint. The personnel of the security point memorize the data and faces of all the residents of the neighborhood that was destroyed by the war where people live on its ruins. They check all walkers to verify whether there is a stranger in the neighborhood, as no outsider is allowed to cross except after a careful investigation of his destination, and after he leaves his personal identity until he returns from his visit, and residents are allowed to introduce their visitors occasionally.

Killer snipers and death bombshells 

Moneer Al-Akhali, a resident of the conflict frontline areas on the eastern side of the city, said in an interview with Khuyut that their lives as families stuck for eight years on the front lines and military confrontations are unimaginable. It lies between the snipers of killers and the shells of death and annihilation, which become more like a daily series, specifically the residents of the Al Rawdha Post area, which is located in front of the Central Security Camp controlled by the Ansar Allah militia (Houthis) and its military sites besieging them from various sides among shameful silence by everyone.

According to al-Akhali, the issue of residents leaving the neighborhood for whatever purpose constitutes a risky adventure, because the machines of death are waiting for everyone, and they do not know from which side the bullet will hit them.

Obstructed births and death of fetuses

The stories and tales that were monitored in the lines of fire and the areas adjacent to the military operations in the city of Taiz are divided into several types, and according to the statement of Maher Al-Absi (a monitor working with the National Committee to Investigate Allegations of Human Rights Violations), to "Khuyut", the most prominent of which are concentrated in direct sniping of civilians, planting mines and explosive devices, and targeting neighborhoods with bombshells.

Al-Absi also pointed out to some painful stories, the heroines of which are women in the frontline areas, especially women who go into labour, and it becomes challenging for them to receive medical care after five in the afternoon. He stated that movement after this time becomes subject to potential deadly risks, and any source of light will be targeted by direct sniper fire, which causes obstructed births, or the death of pregnant women, and fetuses often die in their mothers' wombs in many cases.

Moreover, according to Al-Absi’s statement, the suffering extends to include the lives of all residents in the frontline areas who become subject to direct targeting, and this is what happens when women go to fetch water from the well or for the purpose of logging, which makes them vulnerable to sniper bullets, and many cases have been recorded where women were targeted by assassins.

Regarding the availability of reports documenting these violations and incidents by the National Committee to Investigate Allegations of Human Violations, Al-Absi stated that there is no official report on the lines of fire, except for what is monitored through some social initiatives. He explained that the most recent of these violations was a direct targeting incident of sniping in early April, which nearly claimed the life of a seventy-year-old citizen who lived in the Russian Camp area, next to the Kalaba cemetery, on the direct line of contact, where Houthi snipers are concentrated. The old man was directly shot while returning to his home after inspecting his livestock pen in the neighborhood, and was shot in the waist, and he is currently (at the time of drafting the report) in Al-Safwa Hospital in the city of Taiz.

Every living being is targeted by sniping

Given that the Rawdha Post area is located between the Cairo district and the district of Salh, has been the battle field of continuous military operations for years, the population of all sects has suffered many forms of heinous crimes; according to Moneer al-Akhali, which forced them to live the bitterness among the machines of death and oppression, both psychological and moral. Almost all families lost their right to a natural life, which was destroyed by sniping acts that target every living being, whether human or animal, and even birds were not spared from sniping.

Thus, the siege applied day and night, according to Al-Akhali, with which it is impossible for patients to reach first aid centers and medical facilities, and they are denied access to health care; This has caused disabilities among the elderly and children, and mothers do not receive normal care during pregnancy and lactation. In addition to the suffering of population of food insecurity, and the fact that they now live on one meal a day, after the majority of families lost their sources of income.

It is worth noting that thousands of residents are crowded near the areas of confrontations and in the lines of fire including Wadi Salh, the Kalaba area, Wadi Al-Dhabab and the old airport, where death awaits them either from a sniper rifle, a mine planted under their feet, or a shell landing on their heads. Thus, the nights of Ramadan lose their presence there, and pass like all other days for people who suffer the most, and await escape from hell.