The Saudi-Emirati coalition launched military raids on Houthi sites in Sanaa, in return the Houthis made a ceasefire offer in exchange for lifting the siege on Yemen.
The Saudi official media quoted the coalition as saying that it "destroyed the workshops for assembling ballistic missiles and drones on Sunday in the maintenance weapon camp of the Houthi militia in Sana'a."
Local Yemeni sources said that the Saudi-Emirati coalition aircraft launched four raids on the Al-Nahdain camp, south of the Yemeni capital, and two raids on the maintenance force camp late on Sunday evening.
Yemeni citizens broadcast videos on communication platforms showing successive explosions after a coalition missile targeted a Houthi site in Sanaa.
# Sanaa a little while ago !!
Lonely and scary these sounds !!
The traumatic case is the shock of the Yemeni media, Maya Al-Absi, who took this video with her phone !!
Oh God, kinder to children and women, they are helpless.
pic.twitter.com/wfyLkkxt59
Sameer Alnamri (@sameer_alnamri) March 21, 2021
"The operation aims to neutralize and destroy the sources of the impending attack and to protect civilians from hostile attacks," the coalition said, stressing that its operations are in accordance with international humanitarian law and its customary rules.
The Saudi-Emirati coalition had previously published pictures of operations during which they targeted Houthi militants and equipment.
He pointed out that the raids were carried out during the past 24 hours to support the Yemeni National Army and the tribes on the Marib fronts.
The coalition added that it destroyed an air defense system belonging to the Houthis on the Marib front, noting that the destruction of the system included all its components and foreign experts.
The coalition confirmed that it supports the operations of the Yemeni National Army in Marib to help it achieve progress and protect civilians.
Fierce battles
In a related context, military sources said that the Houthis launched a naval attack with eight boats on the sites of the Maritime Formation Forces on the coastal strip of the Abs District in Hajjah Governorate, northwest of Yemen.
Sources in the National Army stated that they were able to repel the attack, which coincided with a ground attack, forcing the group's militants to withdraw.
The Houthis have not yet commented on the details of the attack, and independent sources could not confirm the number of victims of the clashes.
In Taiz, sources told Al-Jazeera that a civilian was killed and 5 wounded when a shell fired by the Houthis fell near the gate of the Faculty of Arts at Taiz University, east of the city.
According to local sources, the Houthis have closed all ports connecting the city of Taiz to its east.
The Houthi position
On the other hand, the Houthi military spokesman, Yahya Saree, presented what he said was a military toll since the outbreak of the Yemeni war.
He said, "The Al Houthi air force has launched 572 offensive operations outside Yemen and 570 inside Yemen."
He added that the coalition launched 260,000 raids since the start of the war, including 1,000 since the beginning of this year.
He also indicated that the Houthis carried out 34 naval operations.
In turn, a member of the political bureau of the two Houthi groups, Muhammad Al-Bukhaiti, said that the Houthis are ready to stop all military operations, including stopping attacks in the depths of Saudi Arabia, in addition to stopping the Houthi movement's advance towards Marib, in exchange for declaring what he described as the countries of aggression led by the United States to lift the siege From Yemen.
Al-Bakhiti added in a tweet that the ball is now in those countries' court.
Since February 7, the Houthis have stepped up their attacks in Marib to control it as it is the most important stronghold of the Yemeni government and the main headquarters of the Ministry of Defense, in addition to its enjoyment of oil and gas wealth, which the coalition responded militarily.
The Houthis have repeatedly fired, especially recently, ballistic missiles, projectiles and marches at Saudi areas, amid repeated destruction by the Saudi-led coalition and accusing the group of being supported by those weapons from Iran.
Tragedy in Marib
On the humanitarian level, the United Nations Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths said that he discussed by phone with the governor of Ma'rib the effects of the Houthi attack on the governorate and its repercussions on civilians, including the internally displaced.
This comes at a time when the Coordinator of the United Nations Office in Yemen is visiting the city of Marib, in preparation for declaring it an independent humanitarian center after it was for years belonging to Sanaa, which is under the influence of the Houthis.
The Yemeni government says that Marib is hosting more than two million displaced people, representing about 60% of the number of displaced people in the country, at a time when the Houthis have continued their attack on it from several axes for more than a month.
Yemen has been witnessing a war for nearly 7 years, which has claimed the lives of more than 233,000 people, and 80% of the population, numbering about 30 million, are dependent on support and aid, in the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, according to the United Nations.
The conflict has had regional extensions since March 2015, as a coalition led by the Saudi neighbor has been carrying out military operations in support of government forces in the face of the Iranian-backed Houthis who control several provinces, including the capital, Sanaa.