Houthis stepping up their attacks in Marib

The Iran-backed Houthi militia strives to compensate the losses it sustained because of the advances made by the Yemeni army and Popular Resistance in the central Yemeni province of Marib.

On December 5, the militia staged renewed attacks in the province. It fired three missiles, including one that fell inside Marib Airport.

Marib Security Chief, Yahya Hamid, attributed the attacks to the pressure the militia is reeling under on the battlefront.

"The militia resorts to attacks on civilians and people living in the camps whenever it is under pressure," Hamid said.

He added that the militia has been incurring painful defeats on various fronts.

Hamid noted, however, that Houthi militia attacks did not leave any civilian or material toll behind.

He added in remarks to Yemeni television that the attacks aimed to divert attention from the defeats the militia is sustaining.

Painful blows

The Saudi Arabia-led coalition said, meanwhile, that it had carried out a series of airstrikes on Houthi positions in different parts of Yemen in the past few days.

The airstrikes, it said, aimed to protect civilians, especially in Marib.

This came as Yemen's army and tribes succeeded in repelling a number of Houthi attacks, having received support from the coalition.

The army and the tribes also succeeded in inflicting heavy damage on the militia on three fronts in Marib.

The militia countered by launching repeated attacks on army and tribes' positions in the province, especially last night.

The attacks especially took place in the al-Balaq and al-Zour Mountains.

Nonetheless, the same attacks availed the Houthis nothing. Army troops and tribesmen even counted 30 Houthi dead bodies in the fields after the militia turned tail.

One of those killed was senior Saada province commander, Mohamed al-Ansari al-Aubri.