At Least 123 Killed in Heavy Fighting Over Yemen’s Maarib

Fighting has continued to rage and even escalate in Yemen’s Maarib, a city that has been contested for months. Over the weekend, the Houthis have been trying to push into the city in an offensive on three different fronts.

The Houthis are pushing from two routes in the north, through Kassara and al-Mashjah, both of which are making progress, and Jabal Murad in the south. Officials say they’ve thwarted the offensive in the south.

In the past 48 hours, 123 fighters have been killed. 53 were killed in the past 24 hours. While Saudi officials conceded some ground was lost, they suggested that the city itself is not in any immediate risk of falling.

The months of fighting over Maarib have seen many hundreds killed on both sides. The city is considered key to the Houthis as the last northern city they don’t control, and the expectation is that if they did control it, it would inform the peace process.

As with so much of the last six years, taking anything has been all but impossible, and both sides just seem to trade huge death tolls in these offensives, leaving many killed but nothing resolved.