The Yemeni army is confronting the Houthis on the outskirts of Marib, and the group says that the American position is incompatible with calls for peace

Al-Houthi group spokesman, Muhammad Abd al-Salam, said that affirming the US position to renew their support for the "aggression against Yemen" completely contradicts the repeated calls for achieving peace, after statements by the US envoy to Yemen in which he criticized the group's repeated attack on the city of Ma'rib.

Abdel Salam added - in a tweet on Twitter - that the latest US position confirmed that it was behind the aggression and siege, as he put it.

US Special Envoy for Yemen Timothy Linderking has arrived in Saudi Arabia to meet with senior Saudi and Yemeni officials.

A US State Department statement said - yesterday, Wednesday - that it is expected that Lenderking will discuss the increasing repercussions of the Houthi attack on Marib, which, according to the statement, exacerbates the humanitarian crisis and leads to instability in other parts of the country.

Lenderking will discuss the importance of a comprehensive peace process and the rapid appointment of a new UN envoy.

The US State Department's statement called for an immediate end to the fighting, and enabling Yemenis to achieve a more peaceful and prosperous future.

On the other hand, Yemeni military sources said that the army forces, backed by the popular resistance and tribesmen, took control of several Houthi sites near Mas camp, and on the outskirts of Raghwan District, northwest of Ma'rib Governorate.

These sources added that the army and the forces supporting it repelled the attacks launched by the Houthis on sites in the Rahba district in the south of the governorate.

For their part, the Houthis said that the planes of the Saudi-Emirati coalition launched 12 raids on sites in the Rahba district, south of Marib, and launched 7 other raids on sites in the provinces of Al-Bayda and Al-Jawf, without specifying the losses caused by these raids.

Yesterday, Wednesday, the coalition announced the interception and destruction of a booby-trapped drone launched by the Houthis towards Saudi Arabia.

The coalition said - in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency - that the air defenses intercepted and destroyed a booby-trapped drone launched by the Houthis towards the southern region.

Yemen has been witnessing for nearly 7 years a continuous war between the pro-government forces backed by the Saudi-Emirati alliance on one side, and the Iranian-backed Houthis, who have controlled governorates, including the capital, Sanaa, since September 2014, on the other.