Red Cross calls for ceasefire in Yemen conflict
The International Committee of the Red Cross called for a ceasefire to be imposed in Marib to allow the organisation to retrieve the bodies of those killed in clashes near the central Yemeni city.
Basheer Omar, Red Cross spokesman in the country, told The National that the violence in Marib posed a danger to hundreds of thousands of civilians.
“If the looming battle continues and reaches the city centre, then 350,000 residents will flee,” he said.
Fighting has been raging near the government-held city since February, when the Iranbacked Houthi rebels began a campaign to try to seize control of the oil-rich region.
Thousands of civilians living in camps for internally displaced people have already fled the area, Mr Omar said.
“Civilians in Marib have been suffering a lot.
“They need life-saving aid and medical assistance,” he said.
He urged armed groups to protect vital infrastructure such as dams, power plants and the water network, and to allow civilians to escape the fighting.
Mr Omar said the Red Cross wanted a truce in place to allow its teams to recover the bodies of soldiers and civilians killed around the city.
“We urge the conflict parties to agree to a ceasefire to allow our teams, along with the teams of the Yemen Red Crescent Society, to get access to these areas to help provide humanitarian help to those in need and to retrieve the dead bodies,” he said.
“Retrieving the corpses of those killed in the clashes, whether they are civilians or fighters from both parties, is at the core of our work.”
He said Red Cross workers had been unable to reach the front lines to the north-west of the city in Al Mashjah and Al Kassara.
A representative of progovernment groups said 76 Houthi fighters were killed at the weekend as battles raged around Marib.
The Saudi-led coalition supported a ceasefire and the king
dom announced a diplomatic initiative to end the conflict, but the rebels rejected it.
A tribal leader defending the city from the Houthis, Mohammed Al Qardaie, told The National that the rebels were trying to cut the main supply route between Marib and Al Mashjah but suffered heavy losses.
“They push hundreds of their
fighters into the death traps every day,” said Mr Al Qardaie, whose fighters were on the front line at Murad, south of Marib.
“Pro-government forces will be able to deter the Houthi offensive and change the course of the battle once they are reorganised.”
He said the city’s defences were bolstered by refugees who joined forces fighting to repel the rebel attack.
“The Houthis will not take over the city even if they tighten the noose around it, because the city hosts millions of internally displaced people who have started mobilising to defend it,” Mr Al Qardaie said.
Panic set in among the residents of refugee camps to the
north of Marib as the front lines drew closer.
Residents of Al Mail camp, north-west of Marib, told The National that the sounds of the conflict were traumatising.
“We hear the sounds of the explosions and the bombardment very clearly at night,” said Tariq Saeed.
“This has been causing panic, especially among women and children, who are upset and kept awake all night once the battles intensify.”
The Red Cross plans to establish an office in Marib province to allow teams to deliver aid to those affected by the latest violence.
The organisation said it distributed aid to 9,000 people in the province.
The defences at Marib city have been bolstered by refugees who joined forces fighting to repel the Houthi attack