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Struggling under the weight of gas canisters, plastic sacks and cardboard crates stuffed with necessities, residents of Yemen’s Taiz have taken to treacherous mountain paths to bring essential goods into their besieged city. Men and women, old and young, pick their way along a jagged path leading to Taiz, where a months-long siege by Shiite Houthi rebels has left even basic items in desperately short supply. The weakest among them load their goods onto camels and donkeys. But even for sturdy beasts of burden the journey is a difficult one, as they trip and stumble over the rocks jutting out along the way. The 600,000 residents of the southwestern city are in desperate need of everything. They have been caught in the crossfire between loyalists to Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi who are defending their positions in Taiz and the Houthis who have encircled them. Residents say humanitarian aid that the United Nations ordered to be distributed never reached them, so more are taking to the mountain paths to bring it in by foot. Here: Fighters of the pro-government Popular Resistance Committees militia carry a cannon as they transport it in parts to Yemen's southwestern war-torn city of Taiz December 26, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)
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