Escalation of fighting in Marib in Yemen
Confrontations between the forces belonging to Yemen’s internationally-recognized government and the Iran-backed Houthi militia have increased in Marib during the recent weeks, with the registration by officials of dozens of deaths on the two sides.
Government sources informed AFP that at least 90 combatants on both warring parties were murdered on Saturday, with severe struggling occurred on six fronts in the governorate, and dozens of people were also injured.
In fact, Iran has supported the Houthis in their war against the Yemeni government, providing the group with weapons, like drones and missiles that are often used to target civilians.
It should note that Marib is the last major northern castle for pro-government forces and is constitute the home to one of Yemen’s largest oil infrastructures. Thus, the attack in the area would put hundreds of gas and oil fields at danger of falling under the Iran-backed group’s control.
The governorate constituted also a shelter for hundreds of thousands of evacuated people who, for years, have taken like a houses away from the war that was in other places in Yemen.
Furthermore, local officials and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have alerted that the intensification of the attack has conducted to a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a statement on February 27: Since the Houthi coup in September 2014, the governorate of Marib has become a home for more than 2 million displaced people who fled the brutality and oppression of the Houthi militia in search of safety.
It also said: Since the beginning of February 2021, Marib has endured the largest and fiercest Houthi offensive in which Houthis used all kinds of heavy weapons, including artillery, drone bombs, and ballistic missiles, and in just one night… the city was hit by 10 ballistic missiles.
Moreover, Yemen’s Minister of Information Muamar al-Aryani also accused the Houthis of using people in displacement camps in Marib as human shields.
A war against the US and its allies
Until now, the Arab Coalition and government forces have pushing the Iran-backed group to return back, however; the Houthis have reacted by increasing their assaults in the region, and on Saudi Arabia.
On his part, Coalition spokesperson Colonel Turki al-Maliki stated on Sunday that the militia’s assaults on the Kingdom were a result of the coalition’s victories in Marib.
The Houthi’s top military official Abdullah al-Sharifi informed the militia’s al-Masirah TV, last month, that the group’s offensive in Marib is a fight against the US and its allies. He also said: The fight now is not with our brothers, but it is between us and infidelity, America and its allies.
While, the UN’s envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths has denounced the Houthi attack in Marib and appealed for negotiations. He informed the UN Security Council on February 25: The conflict in Yemen has taken a sharp escalatory turn with [the Houthis’] most recent offensive in Marib governorate. I have condemned this many times since early last year when this offensive operation started, and I will repeat my call now: the attack on Marib must stop. It puts millions of civilians at risk.
