Another weekend of heavy fighting in Yemen’s contested Maarib Province has left at least 50 fighters killed, according to pro-Saudi sources, who claimed 43 Houthis and seven soldiers killed in the past 48 hours.
This is a continuation and escalation of fighting there, after at least 140 fighters were reported killed in the past week. What had been multiple fights per week now seems to be a constant battle.
Officials estimated 400 combatants killed in the area so far in September. The exact split is not clear, as pro-Saudi officials claim Houthis are overwhelmingly killed at a higher rate, but neither side seems to be winning the fight in any definitive way.
Control of Maarib has been seen as massively important to the ongoing war, representing momentum going into potential peace talks. Unfortunately, the fight has been ongoing while the peace talks keep getting postponed.
Because the promise of peace talks are always a good time for mounting escalations.
The logic of war is kind of messy that way.