Yemen: coalition kills 100 rebels in Marib, but Houthis are still advancing

A loyalist fighter fires at Houthi rebel positions on the front line near Marib, September 27, 2021. © AFP

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The Saudi Arabian-led military coalition announced this Saturday, October 16, that it had killed 160 Houthi rebels in new air raids around the Yemeni city of Marib.

As hope for a resumption of negotiations has arisen, it may recede with the rebels advancing around the last pro-government stronghold in a conflict that has lasted for seven years.

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The

has

hundreds of lives in recent days.

Despite the heavy losses, the rebels are advancing and are now " 

 " a source told AFP on Saturday. loyalist.

“ 

 ”, indicated the pro-government coalition led by Riyadh, quoted by the official Saudi agency SPA.

The last government stronghold in northern Yemen largely dominated by the Houthis, Marib, the capital of the province with the same name,

.

The Houthis launched a campaign to take the city in February and have recently stepped up their offensive.

The coalition has responded since Monday, October 11 with a salvo of airstrikes which, according to it, have killed more than 700 insurgents.

These figures could not be verified from an independent source.

The Houthis, for their part, rarely communicate about the victims in their ranks.

The Houthi rebellion " 

feels in a position of strength

 "

Saudi Arabia, at the head of the pro-government coalition, admitted to having exchanged on several occasions with the Iranian government, the main support of the Houthis, which foreshadowed a resumption of negotiations in this

.

But on the ground, the fighting around the last bastion of pro-government forces in the north seems to day by day remove this prospect, because the Houthi rebellion " 

 ", explains Laurent Bonnefoy, researcher at the CNRS.

Things are progressing well as regards the Marib front directly. The problem is that the Houthi forces are increasingly able to surround the city, which threatens to isolate the government forces even further. It also takes away the possibility of negotiations, because the Houthi rebellion forces feel in a position of strength, in a way. The Yemeni conflict has a diversity of layers. There is the regional layer, which is important, and also the one that may be the priority to be resolved: that of the proxy conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia. And then there are the elites at the national level who fight each other and there are the local levels which make it even more complex. If we only intervene on one of these layers, I think we would not be able to resolve the conflict.

According to Laurent Bonnefoy, researcher at the CNRS, "with Marib, the possibilities for negotiations are fading"

Oriane Verdier

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• Yemen

• Saudi Arabia