Houthis fire 7 missiles at Yemen’s Marib amid surge in fighting

SMA NEWS – MARIB

The Iran-backed Houthi militia on Sunday launched seven missiles at the central Yemeni city of Marib, local officials said, as fighters also intensified ground attacks to seize control of new territory across Yemen.

A military official told Arab News that seven missiles fired by the Houthis ripped through different neighborhoods in Marib, killing and wounding many civilians and triggering explosions that shook the city.

Residents reported hearing more than 10 explosions across the city on Sunday morning as local authorities announced that five Houthi missiles had hit the city.

Hours later, the Houthi launched two more missiles, causing further destruction.

Dozens of civilians have been killed in densely populated Marib since early last year when the Houthis scaled up missile, drone and ground attacks on the city as part of a renewed major offensive to control the government’s last major urban bastion in the northern half of the country.

Similarly, three students were wounded on Saturday when an explosive-laden drone fired by the Houthis hit a school in Marib’s Hareb district, local authorities said, adding that the students were leaving the building when the drone exploded.

In neighboring Shabwa province, three soldiers were killed and 14 more wounded on Saturday when a Houthi missile hit a mosque inside Al-Alem military base during evening prayer, a local official told Arab News.

Local officials said that the Yemeni army troops continue to disregard a three-year-old circular from the Defense Ministry that asks soldiers whose bases are close to the battlefields to avoid congregating during prayers.

“The soldiers were told to pray individually,” an anonymous military official told Arab News, adding that the notices were issued in January 2019 in the wake of a Houthi missile attack on Marib that killed more than 100 soldiers.

“The Houthis see those worshipers as infidels who must be killed,” the official said.