Houthi attack cuts off road linking Yemen's Taiz to Aden

Yemen's Houthi rebels on Sunday blocked the main supply road linking the city of Taiz with Aden.

A local police source told news agency AFP that the Houthis have seized the Al-Safia area and its police post. Three Yemeni army sources also confirmed that the area and the supply route have come fully under Houthi control.

Military sources said movement between Taiz and Aden has been halted and fighting is continuing in the area.

The attack follows several days of intense fighting around Taiz. Although Taiz remains under government forces' control, the Houthis have for a long time been encircling it from the north, east and west.

Since fighting escalated in September, the Houthis have taken control of the Red Sea coast and also disrupted Saudi Arabia's energy exports.

Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the world and faces a severe humanitarian crisis.

Yemen's civil war began in 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa. Saudi Arabia intervened in 2015, leading an international coalition.