In March 2015, the Houthi militia stormed the city of Taiz, the cultural capital of Yemen, a few months after its coup against the state and the overthrow of the capital Sana'a. From that time, the sons of this governorate decided to take the national and moral task in confronting the Iranian imamate project coming from the caves of Marran and heading south to control the Bab al-Mandab Strait and subject it to the ambitions of the Persian project.

As the position of the Islah at the national level is clear in its rejecting to the Houthi coup and its resistance to the crimes of the barbaric militias, the Islah Party of Taiz was at the forefront of the ranks defending the governorate against the sectarian invasion. Therefore, the Islah Party received the largest share of the Houthi abuse, where its leaders were abducted, thousands of its members and supporters were martyred and its property was looted.

The Islah in Taiz was aware of the greatness of the responsibility placed on the national political forces in confronting the return of the imamate. From Taiz, the city of culture, the Islah actively participated side by side with the rest of the national forces in the formation of the first popular resistance in which the sons of Taiz were involved with their various orientations. The Islah has connected between the national political performance and the culture of resistance and awareness for the need to restrain Iranian militias and defeat their coup, and to restore the State and legitimacy.

Martyrs on the liberation paths

The sons of Taiz, led by leaders, members and cadres of the Islah, waged the battle of liberation with all courage. Taiz has provided thousands of martyrs for a homeland in which everyone enjoys a decent life.

The Houthi militia bombed the neighborhoods of the city with heavy weapons, killing civilians and destroying private and public buildings, where barbaric snipers assassinated safe people in the streets and houses. It has become clear that the Houthi militia is taking revenge on the peaceful Taiz's people, which erupted like a volcano in its face.

In the battle of liberation, the Islahis introduced their finest men, where neighborhoods of the city have liberated from the impurity of the Houthi criminal militia that assassinated the safe people. The liberation battle continues to purge the governorate of the criminal militias that committed brutal war crimes against the people of Taiz.

Here, it is impossible to calculate the sacrifices made by the Islahis in the battle for liberation and State restoration in the city of Taiz. However, it is sufficient to point out that a convoy of martyrs, headed by the Islahi leaders, was at the forefront of the defense of Taiz. The martyr Faisal Hassan al-Mikhlafi was not the last of the martyrs, who was martyred months ago due to his extreme wounds sustained during his participation in confronting the Houthi militia in the northern front. Al-Mikhlafi was one of the first to defend Taiz. And also Sadiq Mansour al-Haidari, Assistant Secretary-General of the Islah Party in the governorate was not the first martyrs, where was assassinated on November 18, 2015 amid the city of Taiz by a bomb planted in his car. He was a man of compromise who paid his life a price to thwart plans of the overthrowing the governorate and tear it from the inside.

In November 2015, the Islah Party of Taiz announced the martyrdom of the struggler and resistor Muhammad Hussain Tahir, a former parliamentarian who was martyred defending Taiz from gangs of the coup militia. Four months before the martyrdom of Tahir, the Islahi leader Muhammad Hussain Ashal was martyred by the targeting of his house by shells of Houthi militia in the neighborhood of Kulaba in the center of the city of Taiz.

When the Houthi militia's camps were filled with abductees and the forcibly disappeared in the worst wave of abuses witnessed by Taiz, elements and cadres affiliated to the Islah Party represented in politicians, human rights activists, teachers and journalists were the most of the victims, who were subjected to kidnapping by the militia. Taiz has been subjected to crimes and violations for four years. These violations targeted land and human beings. These violations varied from murder to abduction to forced displacement and destruction of infrastructure. More than 3,600 people, mostly civilians, have been killed, more than 15,000 civilians have been injured, and Taiz remains under siege to this day. Taiz has received violations equal to the total violations that occurred in various Yemeni governorates, according to human rights statistics.

With all the sacrifices made by the Islahis in defense of the state and Taiz, their homes and headquarters have been the target of the coup militias since their invasion of Taiz. They have looted and seized them as well as destroyed dozens of homes, and these incidents accompanied by a displacement of tens of thousands of citizens.

Option of the Resistance

The Islahis realize that the big price they pay is the tax of their party standing with the people and their issues, the adoption of their positions and concerns by supporting the popular resistance and the national army as a legitimate right to self-defense and the homeland against the armed coup militia that overthrew the state and ignited wars.

The Islahis joined the resistance and the national army, like others, and paid great price, believing in their national duty, without regard to party affiliation. All these costs stemmed from their belief that the resistance of the Imamate project is a community and national concern, and an inevitable way to confront the Iranian regional danger, which threatens the Yemeni State and the national security of the region and the neighboring countries. As in the rest of the governorates, the Islah in Taiz has involved in the resistance to defend the republic and legitimacy, and adopted political positions that achieve the goal of restoring the State and liberating Yemen from the project of priesthood. Consequently, the necessary awareness of this option has emerged, making great sacrifices in the battle of liberation.

Combative Roles

At every occasion, the political, party and local leaders in Taiz express their appreciation for the great role played by leaders and individuals of the Islah Party in the service of the great national project and the great sacrifices they make in order to restore the Yemeni State and overthrow the coup and the social, developmental and intellectual role of the Islah, which comes in the service of the goals of the two revolutions September and October and devotes the values of the unity.

The combative role for the Islah Party in Taiz at the national level is a continuous role, and the party's sacrifices for the restoration of the State are the big evedance to its continuity. And today the conviction of the Islah Party calls for national and republican alignment and raise the level of liberation plans to be more effective, where Taiz is the base of the liberation of Yemen, as confirmed by the Head of the Executive Office of Islah Party in Taiz, Mr. Abdulhafiz al-Faqih, who explained the vision of the Islah Party, saying that the most important priority that must take its right is to work formally and publicly at all levels to end the coup, and the Government is the most responsible to move towards the achievement of this important and urgent goal.

At every occasion, the Islah Party in Taiz confirms that the sacrifices made by its members alongside all the national forces and the heroic governorate's masses are for the dignity of the people, the protection of the Republic and the restoration of the State seized by the forces of darkness. And that Islah Party will follow this way as a national party that radiated from the ranks of the people and it is one of the most important levers of popular struggle.