The northern city of Marib, near Yemeni capital Sanaa, is the new center of violence in a seemingly never-ending war. Until last year this city was considered a “safe haven” for all Yemeni refugees, but now it is a target of Houthi rebels. It is being regularly hit by mortar shells and missiles.

Last Sunday, a ballistic missile targeted at a petrol pump in the city’s Rawdha neighbourhood took the lives of 17 people including a five-year-old girl. Moreover, the government-run SABA news agency reported that the Houthis also launched an explosive-laden drone shortly after the attack on the station which destroyed two ambulances that had rushed in to rescue the injured. However, the Houthis have maintained that they attacked the army camp and not a public place and are open for investigation on civilian casualties.

This attack came just hours after the US special envoy for Yemen, Tim Lenderking, accused the Houthis of failing to try to reach an urgently needed ceasefire. Meanwhile, as reported by Arab News, the bombing also sparked outrage by the UN special envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, who held video talks last week with Houthi leader Abdel-Malek Al-Houthi. Griffiths expressed frustration that the efforts to try to reach compromise between the two warring parties were being deliberately derailed by the attack. Finally, in the midst of all this, an Omani delegation arrived in Sanaa for talks with rebel leaders to advance the peace process. The delegation would try to convince Houthi fighters to restart talks with the internationally recognized government, by returning to the negotiating table in Muscat.  

Sources:

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1871071/middle-east

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/6/6/houthi-missile-kills-at-least-17-in-yemens-marib-government

https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/middle-east-and-north-africa/yemen

Author: Pasquale Candela; Editor: Shrabya Ghimire