Clashes in Yemen’s Marib province continue

Yemeni army units backed by the Saudi-led Arab coalition attacked positions held by Houthi rebels in a strategic province east of the capital Sana’a yesterday.

A three-day ceasefire aimed at paving the way for a political settlement to Yemen’s turmoil collapsed this week, and renewed fighting is threatening UN efforts to end a 19-month-old war.

The Saudi-led coalition launched an offensive in March last year aimed at restoring exiled president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi to power and ousting the Iran-allied Houthis from their strongholds, including Sana’a.

Yemeni forces fired artillery and dislodged Houthi fighters from towns in Marib province east of Sana’a yesterday, Saudi state news agency SPA said.

The Houthi group, who have controlled much of the north of the country since they ousted Hadi in 2015, said Saudi jets hit an ice factory near the port city of Al-Mukha and houses and farms in the Serwah district of Marib on Tuesday night.

Capturing Marib is important for the Saudi-led Arab coalition which aims to counter the growing influence of Iran.

The loyalties of the province are divided. Most of its well-armed clans are allies of the Arab Gulf states. But the Houthis, mostly members of Yemen’s Zaydi Shia sect, and army units loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh also have friends there.

The Houthis’ leader, Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi, made an impassioned speech broadcast live on social media and Lebanon’s Hezbollah-run Al Manar TV station.

“You murderers and thieves, you are the corrupters of the earth with your crimes, your sieges, your killing and the damage you cause people,” he said, accusing the US-backed coalition of starving Yemenis by attacking them economically.

The ongoing conflict in Yemen has killed at least 10,000 people, and has seen both the Arab coalition and Houthi rebels strike civilian populated areas.