Over 130 Yemen rebels killed in battle for Marib — coalition

RIYADH — The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said Tuesday it has killed over 130 Houthi rebels in the past 24 hours in strikes in and near the northern pro-government bastion of Marib.

The Saudi-led coalition has been reporting high death tolls in almost daily strikes since October aimed at repelling a rebel offensive on the city of Marib, the government's last stronghold in the north.

The Iran-backed Huthis rarely comment on the tolls, which have exceeded 3,700 in the past weeks, and AFP cannot independently verify the coalition's figures.

“Sixteen military vehicles were destroyed and more than 130 terrorist elements eliminated” in the latest raids, the coalition said in a statement carried by the Saudi state news agency SPA.

It said the operations were carried out in Marib and Al Bayda provinces.

The Houthis began a major push to seize Marib city in February, and renewed their offensive in September.

There was also reported fighting on a separate front, along Yemen’s Red Sea coast after Houthi forces pushed south in recent days.

The coalition said Tuesday they targeted four Houthi positions along the western coast.

A Houthi advance near Yemen’s lifeline port of the western province of Hodeida and a Saudi pullback have displaced more than 6,000 people, according to the United Nations.

On Monday, the coalition said in a statement that the “redeployment and repositioning” of its troops and government forces last week was designed “to support the Yemeni government in its national battle on all fronts”.

Yemen’s civil war began in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa, prompting Saudi-led forces to intervene to prop up the government the following year.

Tens of thousands of people have died and millions displaced in what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.