Cookies and weapons: Women in Yemen’s Taiz find ways to help the city’s defence

Taiz, Yemen – As Houthi fighters tighten their siege on the government-held southwestern Yemeni city of Taiz, women who initially organised food deliveries for soldiers defending the city have begun raising money to buy weapons and ammunition.The initiatives have emerged spontaneously since the resumption of fighting in early September in the western countryside of Taiz governorate, between Saudi-backed forces of the internationally recognised government and the Iran-backed armed group.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Are the UK, France being pulled into the Saudi-Houthi conflict?list 2 of 3Iran’s enriched uranium re-emerges as point of contention in US talkslist 3 of 3WW1 to Houthis: British jets for Saudi Arabia build on long military bondend of listAt first, women volunteers came together to bake cookies for fighters on the front lines.The aim was “to strengthen the relationship between the supportive social base and the members of the national army and pro-government popular resistance forces stationed at the front lines in defence of their besieged city, which is subjected to daily shelling in preparation for an invasion,” said Amira al-Saghir, an activist involve...