The Houthi rebels are stepping up their assault on Marib, the last bastion of Yemeni power in the north of the country.
Dozens of fighters perished in nightly clashes, officials of pro-government forces said on Sunday (February 14th).
The rebels have been trying for a year to seize this oil-rich city, located about 120 kilometers east of the capital Sana'a, which they have controlled since 2014. But the battle has intensified since February 8, with the resumption of the Houthi offensive.
A success of the insurgents, supported politically by Iran, would be a blow to the Yemeni power, supported since 2015 by a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia.
The Sunni Saudi kingdom is the regional rival of Shia Iran.
In the past 24 hours, the Houthis have dispatched large numbers of fighters and launched attacks from various fronts against Marib, officials of pro-government forces told AFP.
Coalition aviation intervened in support of loyalist forces on the ground, they said.
Sixteen members of pro-government forces were killed, along with "dozens" of rebels, they added.
The Houthis generally do not disclose their losses, but various sources have reported heavy tolls in the ranks of both camps since the resumption of the offensive.
Houthis strike Saudi Arabia again
The rebels also succeeded in cutting off the supply lines of military equipment in the district of Al-Abdiya, about 50 km south of Marib, "with a view to preparing attacks" and "strengthening the siege" of the city, said one of the military officials.
Government forces in the city called on the local tribes, who are armed, to come to their aid.
In addition to the intensification of the fighting in Marib after a precarious calm on the fronts in recent months, the rebels have resumed their attacks on Saudi Arabia, including this week launching drones against Abha international airport.
On Sunday in Riyadh, the coalition said it had intercepted two drones fired at the garrison town of Khamis Mushait which houses a major air base in southern Saudi Arabia, according to the official SPA agency.
A rebel military official said two drones had targeted Abha airport, located not far from Khamis Mushait.
The airport has been the scene of several attacks launched by the Houthis this week, one of which on Wednesday caused a fire on a civilian plane on the ground, according to official Saudi media which denounced a "war crime".
The upsurge in violence in Marib, as well as the increase in rebel attacks against Saudi territory, took place in a context deemed appeasing due to the new American policy in Yemen under the administration of Joe Biden.
The US president has decided to end his support for Riyadh in this war and to remove the Houthis from the list of "terrorist organizations" so as not to hinder, according to him, the delivery of humanitarian aid in the territories they control .
Even though it has been placed on the defensive with military escalation, the United States announced on Friday that the rebels' withdrawal from their blacklist of "terrorist organizations" would take effect on Tuesday.
The American efforts for a solution to the conflict which left tens of thousands of dead and millions of displaced according to NGOs, thus remained without effect.
Yemen faces the worst ongoing humanitarian crisis in the world according to the UN, with a population on the brink of famine.
UN agencies have warned that half of children under five could suffer from "acute malnutrition" in 2021, or nearly 2.3 million children.
Among them, 400,000 could die for lack of "urgent treatment".
With AFP
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