SANAA, 18 October 2021, (TON): The Arab coalition supporting Yemen’s government said that it had killed at least 165 Houthi militia fighters in strikes south of the battleground city of Marib.

The strikes “destroyed 10 military vehicles and killed more than 165” Houthis in the past 24 hours in the Abedia district, the coalition said, bringing to about 1,000 the number of Houthis killed in the area in the past week.

The Houthis began a major push in February to seize Marib, the internationally recognised government’s last bastion in oil-rich northern Yemen, and have renewed their offensive in recent weeks after a lull.

There is particular concern for about 35,000 civilians in Abedia, where the Houthis have laid siege to the area and refused to allow in shipments of food, drinking water, medicines and other essentials.

The Houthis have rejected fresh calls from the US to lift the siege of Abedia, and instead launched reprisal attacks against locals. Houthi fighters have gone house to house in the district searching for local fighters and soldiers who are resisting their occupation.

The Civil Orientation Protection Organization in Marib said “they raided homes, kidnapped a number of wounded, looted private property, including vehicles and household goods, and burned crops.”