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 funds to purchase weapons and ammunition.

Key points

• After almost four years of relative calm after a United Nations-brokered truce in April 2022, Houthi forces introduced a major ground offensive in western Taiz in early September.
• When Al Jazeera spoke to al-Majidi, she had just returned from the fighting around Jabal Sabir, the mountain overlooking Taiz from the south.
• According to She, after more than 10 years of living through Yemen's devastating war, she no longer felt afraid to visit active battlefronts.
• For Khadija al-Majidi, the move from providing humanitarian supplies to delivering military equipment is a response to the growing threat facing Taiz.
• In Yemen, a conservative country and the poorest in the Middle East, the vast majority of women do not participate in active fighting in the civil war.

Notably, 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 administration and the Iran-backed armed group.

At first, women volunteers came together to bake cookies for fighters on the front lines.

For context, 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, " remarked Amira al-Saghir, an activist involved in the campaign.

For context, the cookie-making initiative attracted widespread participation among women volunteers, drawing encouragement and backing on social media. As well as weapons, with individuals contributing from districts and villages throughout the governorate, it coincided with a broader community campaign to supply fighters with food and other basic necessities.

In Yemen, a conservative country and the poorest in the Middle East, the vast majority of women do not participate in active fighting in the civil war. It began in 2014. Instead, these initiatives allow women to take part in what they see as the defence of their city against an invading force, and backing for the men who are fighting.

After almost four years of relative calm after a United Nations-brokered truce in April 2022, Houthi forces introduced a major ground offensive in western Taiz in early September. The armed group rapidly captured territory along Yemen's Red Sea coast, including the strategic port city of Mocha on September 10, expanding its presence around Bab al-Mandeb strait, a vital shipping route.

Meanwhile, the Houthis, additionally known as Ansar Allah, Arabic for Supporters of God, subsequently advanced towards other parts of Taiz governorate, taking control of key routes into the provincial capital and effectively surrounding the city. Administration forces have since rolled out counteroffensives, with control of some areas remaining contested.

In practice, the renewed siege has severely restricted the movement of individuals and essential supplies into the city, triggering shortages of food, fuel, and medicine. From cookies to weapons.

As the fighting intensified, the women's initiatives expanded. What began with baking cookies and organising food convoys to supply arms kitchens gradually evolved into efforts to purchase ammunition for fighters.

Women involved in the initiatives informed Al Jazeera that they felt they had been "forced" to act as of the risk of their city falling to the Houthis.

In practice, the change began as more rural districts began falling to the Houthis, leading to some donors making their contributions conditional on part of the funds being employed to purchase ammunition for fighters.

Al-Saghir believes the shift was encouraged by information and criticism circulating on social media suggesting that administration fighters in Taiz lacked sufficient ammunition to continue defending the city and surrounding front lines.

Notably, the initiatives shortly took off, encouraging more women to secure involved. Among them was Huriya Wabel, a humanitarian activist.

"After we saw that those militias. Are waging a war of extermination against our city, we felt that we had to take a serious stand to support the army, not just with food and clothing, but with weapons as well, especially since a siege has been imposed on Taiz and supplies can no longer reach it easily, " Wabel informed Al Jazeera.

"We also found many civilians who wanted to participate in the fighting alongside the army in defence of the city, but they did not have weapons, " she continued. "So it became incumbent upon us to help by focusing more of our activities on this aspect at this stage."

"When the enemy reaches the gates of your city and imposes a complete siege on it in preparation for storming it by force, and everyone in it – including you, your children, and members of your family – is threatened with being killed, captured, or displaced. Then what do you expect from us?" the activist informed Al Jazeera. "Did you expect us to carry flowers for the criminal who came from the farthest reaches of the country to destroy our city and kill us?"

It was al-Majidi's second trip to the front that day, delivering ammunition and other military supplies. It she valued at $3, 000, to the commander on the front, along with winter clothing, shoes, food, and other necessities.

"Repeated visits to the front lines play a major role in removing fears, given what we see on the ground of the heroes' courage and bravery in defending the city and their confidence in victory, " she continued.

As fundraising expands, the women's department of Taiz's Supreme Council for Popular Resistance introduced a campaign on October 8, aiming to equip 10, 000 pro-government fighters with rifles and ammunition.

Meanwhile, the council has pressed contributions from Yemenis nationwide and abroad to backing the initiative.

As they try to conduct their own counter-attacks, the campaign reflects the state of the fighting in Taiz, with administration forces facing daily Houthi attacks.

But the longer the siege continues, the more tough the military and humanitarian situation becomes in the city.

Al-Saghir and al-Majidi both explained that while plenty of of the donations they receive come from Yemenis living abroad, residents on the ground are additionally giving whatever they can, despite the humanitarian crisis in Taiz.

While al-Majidi recounted stories of other women donating their gold jewellery, al-Saghir remarked one woman whose husband was fighting in the army donated a wedding ring.

Al-Majidi recalled a woman arriving at her home carrying envelopes containing Yemeni and Saudi currency.

For context, the woman had written on the envelopes, "God willing, we will win. Purchase ammunition for the heroes with this."

Taken together, the developments around cookies and weapons: Women in Yemen's Taiz find ways to help the point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.