ICRC delivers medical supplies to Yemen's Taiz amid continued fighting

SANAA, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced Wednesday that it had delivered a shipment of essential medical supplies to health facilities in Yemen's southwestern city of Taiz.

Yemenis displaced by fighting in Taiz gather to receive food aid in the Salah al-Din area on the outskirts of Aden, Yemen, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (File photo: AFP)

In a statement received by Xinhua, the ICRC said it had delivered four trucks carrying essential medical supplies to Taiz city, including surgical kits to help hospitals treat people wounded by weapons.

The delivery represents a critical humanitarian step toward meeting the needs of conflict-affected people in Taiz, while providing much-needed support to health facilities that have long been overstretched and are now under severe pressure from ongoing fighting, the statement said.

"For patients suffering from serious injuries or critical medical conditions, timely access to medical care can be a matter of life and death, regardless of where they live or which side of the front lines they find themselves on," said Christine Cipolla, head of the ICRC delegation in Yemen.

Cipolla urged all parties to the conflict to continue facilitating safe and sustained access to ensure that impartial humanitarian assistance reaches people in need wherever they are, adding that health facilities, the wounded and the sick must be protected, and medical personnel must be allowed to continue their work.

According to the statement, the ICRC has delivered emergency medical supplies to several hospitals along the front lines in recent weeks, including facilities near Taiz city, despite significant challenges in accessing areas severely affected by the fighting.

Also on Wednesday, Yemen's Houthi group said it had launched ballistic missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia's main international airport in Riyadh and military facilities near the Yemeni border, while also claiming missile strikes on government forces inside Yemen.

In a statement on social media platform X, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said the group fired a ballistic missile at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, claiming it caused extensive damage to the facility.

Sarea warned that the airport was "unsafe" and renewed the group's call for international airlines, aviation personnel and passengers to avoid Saudi airspace, except over the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

Inside Yemen, Sarea said Houthi forces fired six ballistic missiles at government troops in the northern province of Al-Jawf, claiming the strikes killed or wounded dozens of soldiers and destroyed several military vehicles.

There was no immediate comment from Saudi authorities or Yemen's government on the claims. The claims and casualty figures could not be independently verified.

The developments come as cross-border fighting intensifies, with Houthi missiles and drones hitting airports, oil sites and military targets in Saudi Arabia, and Saudi-led coalition airstrikes continue against Houthi-held areas of Yemen.

Yemen has been mired in conflict since late 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, prompting the Saudi-led coalition to intervene in 2015 in support of the Yemeni government.