Bloody offensive large-scale Houthi offensive roils Yemen’s oil-rich Marib

The outcome of the scorched-earth battles raging around Marib city, the Saudi-backed Yemeni government’s last northern stronghold, could significantly alter the future course of a conflict now in its seventh year.

The loss of Marib, gripped by a worsening humanitarian crisis, would be a heavy blow to the government, giving the Iran-backed rebels more leverage in any future negotiations or even spur them to push further south, observers say.

Hundreds of combatants have been killed since the large-scale offensive began in February, according to local sources.

In a pattern emerging across multiple frontlines, the commander said the Huthis are pushing zealous waves of young recruits, many of them children, with the goal of wearing out loyalist forces and depleting their ammunition.