As Yemen’s Houthis continue to send reinforcements into Maarib, the Saudis are continuing to carry out airstrikes to try to keep them away. Monday night and into Tuesday, those airstrikes killed at least 13 Houthis on the frontline in Rahabah District.
Details are still emerging, but the 13 killed were described by pro-Saudi officials as “high-ranking officials” in the Houthi military. None were specifically identified so this may just be an attempt to make the airstrikes seem more relevant.
Maarib is a city for which a lot of effort has gone into making control of it a big deal. Its oil production value has been emphasized, as well as its strategic position. In reality, it’s just an impoverished city, the last in northern Yemen that the Houthis don’t hold.
Six months of fighting over Maarib seems mostly based on the idea that the Houthis should want it to complete its northern territory control, and after untold hundreds were slain fighting over the area, neither side seems any closer to definitive control.
Did we provide logistics………………as usual?