Houthi rebels look to take Marib, prolonging Yemen’s war

JUST TWOUN years ago, from the mountains to the east, forces loyal to the Yemeni government could see the capital, Sana’a. It was the closest they had got to the city since the Houthis, a group of Shia rebels, overran it in 2014. But now the government’s forces are on the defensive. They have been pushed back to Marib, the last big city in the north still held by the government (and seat of a province with the same name). The Houthis are within 4km of it (see map). Only air strikes by Saudi Arabia, which supports the government, slow their advance.Marib had until recently been one of Yemen’s safer cities. Those displaced by fighting elsewhere took shelter there. The Saudis made it a base for operations. But the battle for it shows just how badly things have gone for the government and its backers. They would gladly accept the ’s call for a ceasefire. The Houthis, who control much of the country, ignore it. If they take the city, they will control the north’s only oil refinery and the gateway to oilfields in the east and south. “It will be a disaster,” says a Western diplomat who was in Marib last month.