Marib city under fire amid peace talks

As Houthi militia continues to mobilize military reinforcements outside the central city of Marib, Yemen’s president has again appealed to the Houthis to stop fighting, join peace talks and sever ties with Iran.

Speaking on Monday evening to a gathering of senior government officials and participants in the Yemeni consultations in Riyadh, President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi called upon the Houthis to relinquish their ideologies and expansionist ambitions, stop serving Iran’s agenda, form a political party and come to the negotiating table with his government to find a settlement to end the war.

Officials and military analysts have accused the Iran-backed Houthis of exploiting a truce announced by the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen to deploy heavy equipment and military forces outside the strategic city of Marib as they prepare to launch another offensive to capture the city.

Yemen’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak said that the Houthis breached the truce to deploy heavy equipment and military forces outside the strategic city of Marib as they prepare to launch another offensive to capture the city.

Analysts believe that Marib city is facing a serious threat from the latest Houthi military deployments of new forces, tanks, rocket launchers, artilleries and BMP military vehicles, calling for the coalition to resume airstrikes .