Yemeni army repels major Houthi attack in Marib

The Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist militia continued to violate Yemen’s declared truce, launching a massive offensive against Yemeni army positions south of Marib in the northeast of the country.

YemenShababNet quoted the Yemeni armed forces media center as saying: The army repelled a large-scale Houthi attack on its positions south of Marib, without further details.

Military sources said the Houthi militia launched a large-scale attack on army positions on several fronts on the southern axis of Marib province in an attempt to gain ground by taking advantage of the UN-brokered truce.

Fierce battles

The sources said that fierce fighting erupted between the two sides following this attack, which lasted from midnight on Thursday until dawn on Friday, during which the army forces managed to repel the Houthi attack and inflicted heavy losses on the militia in terms of equipment and lives.

The Yemeni army announced later on Friday evening that the terrorist militia, supported by Iran, had committed “108 breaches of the truce, including 29 breaches on the Ta’izz axis fronts, 24 breaches on the southern, western and northwestern fronts of Marib”. These included 24 breaches on the battlefronts west of Hajjah, 23 breaches on the Bahr axes west of Taiz and Hiss in Hodeida, 5 breaches on the fronts east of Al-Jawf, and 3 breaches on the Maris and Batar fronts in Al-Dhale.

The violations ranged from targeting our forces’ positions using artillery and various vehicles, to targeting our forces’ positions with drones, especially in the southern and western Marib fronts, the center said. The violations included deploying snipers in front of our forces’ positions on several fronts, especially west and south of Marib, it added.

The Iranian militia continued to push significant reinforcements to various fronts, including more than 27 crews, vehicles loaded with personnel and equipment, to several fronts south of Marib, and other significant reinforcements to the vicinity of al-Kassar to the west.

Earlier this month, UN envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg announced that Yemeni parties had agreed to a two-month, renewable truce, which came into effect on Saturday evening.

UN mission suspension

In a tweet on social media, UN envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg said he was closely following the latest developments in Marib.

In a tweet posted by the UN Mission in Yemen, the UN envoy urged all parties to show restraint and their continued commitment to the truce as they promised the Yemenis.