Yemeni Forces Score Significant Advances on Marib’s Southern Gates

By Staff, Agencies

The Yemeni forces advanced on the southern gates of the central Marib city, pushing Saudi-backed militants loyal to former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi further back.

According to a report published on Friday by Lebanese al-Akhbar daily, Saudi forces and their mercenaries failed to stop Yemeni soldiers and their allies from making rapid advances on the southern flank of the provincial capital city.

Hadi loyalists have already withdrawn from most of their positions in the eastern and central parts of the Balaqin sub-district over the past two days, despite intense airstrikes carried by Saudi warplanes in their support.

The paper, citing local military and tribal sources, said Yemeni army troops and Popular Committees fighters have made major advances on the western outskirts of Falaj area after establishing control over all heights overlooking the region.

Sources close to pro-Hadi forces said their defeats appear to have been an inside job.

Pro-Hadi Marib governor general Sultan al-Arada expressed his disappointment over the unfolding developments in the province, confirming that the al-Balaq al-Awsat district and surrounding areas in Wadi al-Zannah region had been taken over by the opposite side.

On Thursday, Saudi warplanes conducted more than a dozen air raids against al-Jubah and Sirwah districts in Marib province.

The military aircraft also launched two airstrikes against the Yemeni capital city of Sanaa late on Thursday.

Saudi Arabia, backed by the US and other key Western powers, launched the war on Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing Hadi’s government back to power and crushing the popular Ansarullah resistance movement.

Having failed to reach its professed goals, the war has left hundreds of thousands of Yemenis dead and displaced millions more. It has also destroyed Yemen’s infrastructure and spread famine and infectious diseases there.

Despite heavily-armed Saudi Arabia’s continuous bombardment of the impoverished country, Yemeni armed forces and the Popular Committees have grown steadily in strength against the Saudi invaders and left Riyadh and its allies bogged down in the country.