The Houthi Movement advances on the outskirts of the Marib, ready to unify the whole north under its command. In the meantime, Saudi Arabia is investigating every possible avenue to escape the storm coming its way. Great changes are coming to Yemen.
According to numerous military reports, Yemen’s Houthi movement has managed to secure great victories for the people, getting ever closer to the city of Marib, one of the last two government strongholds along with Taizz. During their war campaign this past week, Yemenis managed not only to capture the northwestern Kassara front, they were also successful in repelling Saudi Arabia’s air raids to the west, pushing the government ground forces to the brink of defeat, once and for all. Should Ansar Allah succeed in taking Marib and its surrounding areas, the north will be wholly unified under the flag of Houthis.
Currently however things aren’t looking good for Marib. According to the UN refugee agency, there are more than 13,600 displaced refugees currently residing in the camps around the area and that kind of situation right amid a global pandemic isn’t very heartwarming. The majority of these people lack basic access to necessities such as clean, drinkable water and electricity whilst the Yemeni government doesn’t shy away from using them as human shields against the Houthi fighters. Furthermore, thanks to the losses Saudi-led coalition has suffered on the ground, the number of air raids and mortar shelling is bound to go up against the Houthis who are on the verge of taking the city. Knowing Saudi Arabia’s tactics, indiscriminate bombardment would soon follow which would definitely take the lives of innocent civilians they put on the line more so than the Houthi fighters. Even so, it appears that Saudi Arabia has lost its confidence in securing a favourable outcome.
For starters, Saudis just don’t have the same faith they once had in their proxy anymore. When the war in Yemen broke out, Saudi Arabia painted this picture of an innocent yet sympathetic President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, believing that he could once again be reinstated given time. They didn’t care for his shortcomings and blunders, all they did want was a legitimate poster boy to secure a friendly, read obedient, government in Yemen, so they did all they could to shelter him. After the passage of so much time, Hadi is no longer viewed as a victim anymore. While Houthis and even his own government members are dying to secure their objectives in war-torn Yemen, he was spending his time safe and sound in Saudi Arabia and for that his image was no longer bearable for the people.
Secondly, the once firm and immovable coalition was no longer in play. It started with UAE ambitions about having its own puppet government in the form of the southern separatists and went on to exclude the US government when Biden was elected to the office. Now, Arabia stands alone against a force which solely defended itself against a coalition at its full capacity. Now that the Saudi Arabia is left alone in this coalition, the once hammered Houthis are making territorial gains at an exponential rate. In addition to that, Houthis are now posing a threat to Saudi Arabia’s own assets as well, the latest of which nearly sent Saudi Arabia into an economic downturn. In the coming days the fate of Marib and perhaps the whole country of Yemen will be decided once and for all. Things will change for better or worse but in the end, history proves that the will of a nation could never be subdued.
