On Sunday, a Yemeni minister accused the Houthi group of bombing the house of the governor of Marib (central) with two ballistic missiles, causing material damage, while the Houthis said that the Arab coalition launched 30 air raids on the province, on Sunday.
It was not immediately possible to obtain a comment from the Houthis on this accusation, and no official statement was issued by the coalition, led by the neighboring Saudi Arabia, regarding those raids.
The Yemeni Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Muammar Al-Eryani, said: “We condemn and strongly denounce the targeting by the Iranian-backed terrorist Houthi militia of the house of the governor of Marib, Major General Sultan Al-Arada, with two ballistic missiles,” according to a statement published by the official news agency “Saba.”
Al-Eryani added that the bombing caused great damage to the governor’s house and nearby houses, in addition to a hospital and a mosque.
He called on the international community, the UN envoys (Hans Grundberg) and the American (Tim Lenderking) to condemn the attack and all attacks against residential neighborhoods, homes and displacement camps in Marib, as a war crime and a flagrant violation of international laws and covenants.
Since the beginning of last February, the Houthis have intensified their attacks in Marib to control it, as it is the most important stronghold of the government and the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense, in addition to its wealth of oil and gas, and the fact that it contains a station that before the war supplied most of the governorates with electricity.
The Houthi group said the Arab coalition launched 30 airstrikes on Marib on Sunday.
The Houthi-affiliated Saba news agency quoted an unnamed security source in the group as saying that “the aggression warplanes (intended the coalition) launched 24 raids on the Harib and Juba districts, and 6 raids on the Serwah area of Marib.”
The source did not provide any additional details.
Since 2015, this coalition has been carrying out military operations in Yemen, in support of the pro-government forces, in the face of the Houthis, who are backed by Iran.
For nearly 7 years, Yemen has been witnessing a war that has claimed more than 233,000 lives, and 80 percent of its population, numbering about 30 million, has become dependent on aid, in the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, according to the United Nations.
