70 dead in fighting over Yemen’s Marib: Loyalist officials

Fierce fighting for Yemen‘s strategic metropolis of Marib has killed 70 pro-government and Huthi insurgent fighters over the previous 24 hours, loyalist navy officials mentioned Sunday.

The Huthis have been making an attempt to grab oil-rich Marib, the federal government’s final important pocket of territory in the north, since February.

Two officials from pro-government forces instructed AFP that battles are raging on three fronts exterior Marib metropolis because the Huthis mount a concerted push.

The new toll comes after officials on Saturday introduced 53 killed on each side.

The 70 dead included 26 members of the pro-government forces and 44 from Huthi ranks, they mentioned. The rebels not often disclose their losses.

One of the officials mentioned that the rebels “are launching simultaneous attacks” in the areas of Kassara and Al-Mashjah, northwest of the town, and Jabal Murad in the south.

“They have made progress on the Kassara and Al-Mashjah fronts, but they have been thwarted on the Jabal Murad front,” he instructed AFP.

The different official mentioned that warplanes from the Saudi-led navy coalition, which entered the Yemen battle to assist the federal government in 2015, launched airstrikes that “destroyed 12 Huthi military vehicles, including four tanks and a cannon.”

The Iran-backed rebels in late 2014 overran the capital Sanaa, 120 kilometres (75 miles) to the west of Marib, together with a lot of northern Yemen.

The lack of Marib could be a heavy blow for the Yemeni authorities, at present primarily based in the southern metropolis of Aden, and for its Saudi backers.