Houthi blockade restricts aid, movement
Yemen’s rebels continued their weeks-long blockade of a district in the central province of Marib, cutting off humanitarian aid and halting movement of its 37,000 people, officials and UN aid workers said on Sunday.
The Iran-backed Houthi rebels “are committing genocide” in Abdiya, preventing food, medicine and other basic needs from reaching the district, said Marib provincial Governor Sheikh Sultan Al Aradah.
The attack on Abdiya is part of the Houthis’ offensive to capture the government-controlled city of Marib, which the rebels have been trying to seize for years.
Thousands of fighters, mostly Houthis, have been killed in clashes and air strikes around the city of Marib.
Children recruited by the Houthis are among those killed in the fighting. Placards with photos of child soldiers are commonplace on the streets in rebel-held areas including the capital, Sanaa.
Dozens of civilians, including women and children as young as two years old, have also been killed in Houthi attacks on Marib city, using ballistic missiles and explosive-laden drones.
The rebels want to wrestle the energy-rich Marib from the government to complete their control of Yemen’s north, a move that would strengthen their position in any future negotiations to end the devastating conflict. They have so far defied repeated international calls for a nationwide ceasefire and engagement in negotiations to settle the conflict.
Two UN aid workers said the Houthis have blocked humanitarian aid to the district and restricted people’s movement there for around three weeks. They said several thousand people have been displaced amid indiscriminate shelling and missile attacks on residential buildings and infrastructure in Abdiya.
The blockade also prevented the transfer of wounded and other patients out of the district, the workers said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorised to brief media.
On Friday, a ballistic missile hit the Ali Abdel Mughni Hospital, the main health facility in Abdiya that provides urgent medical care to the district’s people, said the Doctors Without Borders humanitarian organisation.
The Saudi-led coalition said it launched dozens of air strikes on the Houthis to stop their advances in the district.
In a phone call on Saturday with Tim Lenderking, the US special envoy for Yemen, Al Aradah called for the international community to make “bold decisions to designate this militia as a terrorist group and prosecute its leaders as war criminals.” US State Department spokesman Ned Price on Saturday condemned the Houthis’ escalation in Marib, which he said “demonstrates a flagrant disregard for the safety of civilians.” —