Dozens of fighters perished in nightly clashes in Yemen, where rebels stepped up their attacks to capture the town of Marib, the last bastion of power in the warring north of the country, officials said on Sunday.
The rebels have been trying for a year to seize this oil-rich city, located about 120 km east of the capital Sana’a, which they have controlled since 2014. But the battle has intensified since February 8 with the resumption of the Houthi offensive.
A success of the insurgents, supported politically by Iran, would be a blow to the Yemeni power, supported since 2015 by a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia. The Sunni Saudi kingdom is the regional rival of Shia Iran, which denies providing weapons to the Houthis. These two countries are engaged in proxy wars, as in Yemen and Syria.
In the past 24 hours, the Houthis have dispatched large numbers of fighters and launched attacks from various fronts against Marib, officials of pro-government forces told AFP.
Coalition aviation intervened in support of loyalist forces on the ground, they said. Sixteen members of pro-government troops were killed as well as “dozens” of rebels, the officials added.
The Houthis generally do not disclose their losses, but various sources have reported heavy tolls on both sides since the resumption of the offensive.
The rebels also succeeded in cutting off the supply lines of military equipment in the district of Al-Abdiya, about 50 km south of Marib, “with a view to preparing attacks” and “reinforcing the siege” of. the city, said one of the military officials.
Government forces in the city called on the local tribes, who are armed, to come to their aid.
American Politics
The upsurge in violence in Marib, as well as the increase in rebel attacks against Saudi territory, took place in a context deemed appeasing due to the new American policy in Yemen under the administration of Joe Biden.
The American president has decided to end his support for Riyadh in this war and to remove the Houthis from the list of terrorist organizations so as not to hinder, according to him, the delivery of humanitarian aid in the territories they control.
Even though it has been placed on the defensive with military escalation, the United States announced on Friday that the rebels’ removal from their blacklist of “terrorist organizations” would take effect on Tuesday.
The American efforts for a solution to the conflict which left tens of thousands of dead and millions of displaced according to NGOs, thus remained without effect.
In addition to intensifying fighting in Marib after a precarious calm on the frontlines in recent months, the rebels have resumed their attacks on Saudi Arabia, this week launching drones against a Saudi international airport.
Yemen faces the worst ongoing humanitarian crisis in the world according to the UN, with a population on the brink of famine.
UN agencies have warned that half of children under five could suffer from “acute malnutrition” in 2021, or nearly 2.3 million children. Among them, 400,000 could die for lack of “urgent treatment”.