Amid the intensification of fighting in Marib, the government and the United Nations warn of an unprecedented famine

Yemeni military sources reported that battles - the fiercest between the Houthis and the Yemeni government forces - are taking place on several fronts in the Sarwah district, west of the Marib governorate, at a time when government and UN sources warn of a humanitarian catastrophe looming over the Yemenis due to the continuing war.

The sources added that the Houthis launched a massive attack on Yemeni army positions in Jabal al-Balq, and took control of parts of it, before the army launched a counter-attack to regain the sites it had lost.

Sources stated that the dead were dozens, and indicated that the Saudi-Emirati coalition aircraft launched raids on Houthi sites and reinforcements.

On the other hand, local sources said that the Houthis fired ballistic missiles and drones at Yemeni army positions, and no details were provided about the results of the missile attack.

The Yemeni government has appealed to the international community and the United Nations to pressure the Houthi group to stop the attack on Marib Governorate.

A humanitarian disaster

Today, Saturday, the Yemeni authorities announced the displacement of more than 12,000 people due to the escalation of fighting in Ma'rib (east), warning of a "humanitarian catastrophe" in the governorate.

This came in a series of tweets by Yemeni Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism Muammar Al-Eryani.

Al-Eryani said that "the escalation of the terrorist Houthi militia’s attacks on Marib (since the beginning of this February) led to a new displacement of 1,517 families consisting of 12 thousand and 5 members."

There are 9 camps in the Sarwah district of the governorate that contain 2,460 displaced families, consisting of 17,222 individuals, according to Al-Eryani.

He added that "the Houthi militia prevented 470 other families from leaving, and used them as human shields to this day, while many families are still besieged by the Houthis."

The Yemeni minister also warned of "the dangers of a humanitarian catastrophe," and called on "the international community and the United Nations to exert pressure on the Houthi militia to stop its attacks on Marib."

He appealed to "international and relief organizations operating in Yemen to move urgently to provide relief to the displaced and alleviate their suffering."

He explained that Marib "includes the largest concentration of displaced persons in the country, as it receives about two million and 231 thousand displaced persons who fled the violence in the areas controlled by the Houthis."

Since February 7, the fighting fronts in the Marib governorate have witnessed violent battles, as the Houthis seek to advance towards the center of the oil-rich governorate, and the main stronghold of government forces.

Gentile concern

The United Nations says that about 16 million citizens, representing more than half of Yemen's population, suffer from hunger.

And the chief UN relief official, Mark Lowcock, warns that 5 million of these are on the verge of starvation.

The United Nations hopes to be able, on Monday, to raise about $ 3.85 billion at a meeting to announce pledges to be held via the Internet, to avoid what Lowcock says will be a large-scale "man-made" famine that represents the worst famine the world has seen in decades.

United Nations information shows that about 80% of Yemenis need help, and that 400,000 children under the age of five suffer from acute malnutrition.

Lowcock told reporters, "Before the war, Yemen was a poor country with a problem of malnutrition, but it was a country with a functioning economy and a government that provided services to a large number of its people, and the war destroyed that to a large extent."

He added that "famines in the modern world are mainly represented in the lack of income for people, and then obstruction of others efforts to help them, and this is exactly what we find in Yemen."

In addition to the ongoing war, the suffering of the Yemeni people has increased due to the collapse of the economy and currency and the Covid-19 pandemic.

United Nations officials are trying to revive peace talks, and US President Joe Biden has said that Yemen is a priority for his administration, and announced the cessation of US support for the Saudi-led military campaign, and called for the need to stop the war.

Twelve aid organizations - including Oxfam, Save the Children and CARE International - have warned that 2.3 million children under the age of five in Yemen will suffer from hunger this year if governments do not increase funding on Monday.