Taëz (Yemen) (AFP)

Once considered one of the most beautiful cities in Yemen, Taëz is now crumbling under the garbage that stinks its streets and fear the outbreak of epidemics in this country at war.

In the highlands of southwestern Yemen, old neighborhoods with white mosques have to contend with no municipal services, surrounded by Houthi rebels against which loyal forces are fighting.

Decaying waste infiltrates streams, creating the ideal conditions for spreading cholera.

Since 2014, the population of Yemen, the poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula, has suffered a war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives, according to several humanitarian organizations.

While Ta'z is held by government forces, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, the Houthis control the overhanging mountains from where they launch repeated bombings of the city.

Consequence: drinking water is scarce, schools have almost all closed and it is very difficult to introduce food in this city to 600,000 inhabitants.

The latter, trapped in their own city, suffocate when the sun heats up the streets, where mounds of plastics, tires, cardboard boxes and other waste accumulate, giving off a foul gas.

- Cholera -

Cholera, an infection that can kill in hours if left untreated, reappeared in Yemen in April after a first outbreak in October 2016.

In Taiz, 304 people died of cholera between April 2017 and August 2019, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

In dilapidated hospitals, where staff lacks everything, caregivers are exhausted, unable to cope with the growing number of patients.

"I was sleeping when suddenly I woke up with severe stomach pain and diarrhea, and my children took me here," says AFP Arwa Hmeid, a patient lying on a bed of general hospital.

"The hospital is full of cholera patients and three women have already died since I came here," she worries.

The damage caused by the belligerents to the sewage system and the electricity grid has affected the quality of the water distributed in the city, which has become a vector of cholera.

For Mohammed Mkharesh, deputy director of the general hospital, the accumulation of garbage in Ta'z and other nearby cities has a direct impact on people's health.

"This promotes cholera, dengue fever and malaria," he told AFP, adding that hospitals are "under pressure with increasing disease and lack of resources."

According to the UN, the conflict in Yemen has caused the worst humanitarian situation in the world. About 3.3 million people are still displaced and 24.1 million, or 80% of the population, need assistance, say the UN.

- Call for help -

Despite the difficulties, city officials are doing everything they can to clean the city, says Mohammed Jassar, head of the Taez sanitation department.

"The department deploys two teams, one in the morning and the other in the evening (...) but the garbage continues to accumulate and there is a lack of equipment and resources," he says, discouraged.

The man is urging the international community to help Yemenis. It is only "when the city is cleansed that the spread of disease will be slowed down," he sighs.

© 2019 AFP