The Back-And-Forth Of Yemen’s Marib Stronghold

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The fighting in Yemen, similarly to other battlefields in the Middle East is heating up in 2021.

The Ansar Allah, or the Houthis, as they are colloquially known, have began pushing towards Marib city. The province and the settlement itself are the last Saudi-led coalition stronghold in the relatively calm central region. If Marib city is captured by the Houthis, they would be allowed to carry out even more attacks and operations in Saudi Arabia’s southern regions. These regions are largely depopulated because of the war that Riyadh and its allies began almost 6 years ago.

Starting on February 17th, the Houthis targeted Saudi-led force’s positions near Marib City, as a harbinger of what is to come. That is when the offensive began, with the Ansar Allah rapidly capturing various smaller villages en route to Marib City and the historical Marib Dam. The Saudi-led coalition attempted to halt the advance, by shelling the column and the ditches that were dug to siege the surroundings of Marib. After more than a day of heavy clashes, the Houthis came out victorious, capturing the Marib Dam.

It was short-lived however, for on February 20th, the Houthis withdrew from the Dam, as well as from the villages of Hamajirah and al-Zour. At this point, it turned into a back and forth, with the Houthis taking control of the village of Arak, south of the Marib Dam. And have since prepared to launch a new offensive.

In preparation for this Ansar Allah released a hype video, showing the most epic combat footage from the year 2020. As the COVID-19 pandemic year was of significant success for the Houthis on the battlefield, and of setbacks for Saudi Arabia.

Still, the Saudi-led coalition continue its airstrikes on Houthi positions all along the contact line and beyond it. The al-Hudaydah ceasefire is also seldom adhered to.

If the Marib Dam is lost, and then subsequently so is Marib City, this spells bad tidings for Riyadh.The Houthis are likely to keep pushing, and they have had the upper hand on the battlefield for a while now.

If the situation deteriorates further for the Saudi-led coalition this would allow for the Ansar Allah to carry out more combat operations on Saudi Arabian soil. This is an opportune moment due to the Biden Administration formally declaring its end of support for the Saudi-led coalition’s crusade in Yemen. But it should be taken with a grain of salt, as it is likely simply an international policy charade.

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Pave Way IV

The Saudis already moved al Qaeda in to take over the Marib Refinery and Safer Pumping Station. If it looks like they’re in danger of falling to the Houthis, then the Saudi chimps’ orders are to blow them up. One can only hope the Houthis have something ready for Ras Tanura. It would be poetic justice to see the Saudis take out a few tens-of-thousands of barrels of refining at Marib/Safer, and then lose the capacity to export several million barrels a day through Ras Tanura in retaliation. Not sure whether US/UAE/Blackwater/ISIS would go scorched earth and take out Marib refinery, but wouldn’t put it past them, either. Seems like something the psychopaths would do.

Narine Joa

Marib teenagers and the YSF took out the Houths in masses. There are so many death amongst them that whole roads were covered in Sana’a. Not only did they get pushed back but massacred

https://twitter.com/VIP4Yemen/status/1361948956482224131

https://twitter.com/mareb2009/status/1364188840483819521/photo/1

Hasbara Hunter

Do you know how many children you have starved to death?

Icarus Tanović

You just muted her and 50 guys that telling her what yo say, and how to put a ? on a morality side of Yemenis struggle for freedom.

Pave Way IV

The Houthis got massacred? I doubt it. They’re a fraction of Ansar Allah in Marib. Those were probably mostly inexperienced locals from Marib governorate in Ansar Allah that died fighting against the Saudi puppet and his muslim extremist pals. Houthis don’t run around in the open like that.

Narine Joa

What? Video shows otherwise

Icarus Tanović

Muslims?! You mean Wahhabis instead?

Pave Way IV

Yemen Islah (Muslim Brotherhood) jihadis are part of the ‘coalition’ allied with Hadi, so I didn’t want to leave them out – not sure if they are Wahhabi but they seem to have the same anti-Shia head-chopper mentality as Wahhabis. I didn’t think MB were technically Wahhabi because the only people the Saudi Wahhabis seem to hate more than Shia are Muslim Brotherhood. Maybe the MB threat is more to the legitimacy of the Saudi monarchy than their warped Wahhabi ideology.

To your point though, Icarus, I didn’t intend to disparage all legitimate Muslims and just adding ‘extremist’ at the end confuses the issue. Wahhabis are not even considered real Muslims according to the rest of the billion or so Sunnis, so I’ll go with that.

Icarus Tanović

MB or Islamic brotherhood is behind, say Erdogan and his policy. So that’s JUST a smokescreen for masses.
They’re trying real hard to cover up the truth and divide Ummah, with this shia sunni stuff. It’s bs. Sunnis from western Saudiya doesn’t have water or electricity to live decent lives, because you already know what. Somewhere else they’ll use nations and nationalists to do theirs theirs dirty work. Somewhere else, say in Korea they’ll devide people by communists/capitalists. Again, somewhere else to liberalists and conservatives.
So divide et impera is modus operandi.
Again, why Saudis doesn’t have that decency to send humanitarian aid to Palestine? Them Palestinians are sunnis too, but Iran does, Lebanon does, Lybia did and Egypt does.
Why than Somalia, Djibouti etc. eastern African states helping so much Yemenis, AnsarAllah? Supporting their fight agains oppresion and for freedom.
Oh dear, don’t be that naive and fall into those traps made in CIA psychological warfare.
All the best.

Icarus Tanović

Oh really? Bullseyes idiot of the day.

Faisal Al Al Mahdi

I doubt it too. Firstly Ansar Allah and the popular committees are not shy about their causalities, lauding their fallen as hero’s. Alspo it has been reported in multiple sources that local tribes from Marib are joining Ansar Allah to help in liberation of Yemen. also notice he wahabi’s did not show any ID or insignia showing the fallen’s allegiance. Also this poster claims “whole roads covered in bodies” of the Ansar Allah and popular committee volunteers, well his video does not show that . Unlike the ansar Allah videos that do show them capturing thousands of wahabi’s and mercenaries.
Oh Lord, Oh Allah glory to Him in the highest, give strength to your soldiers of Ansar Allah, give victory to your believers, over the anti Christ America and its ISIS supporters. Amen.

Narine Joa

The Marib offensive was a bluff that was called. The Yemeni Gov’t army of hadi and the people of Yemen won’t likely stop despite the Houthis being pushed back from the city. Other areas may erupt as well forcing the country to enter a fight to the end. The Houthis took so much casualities in this war they are almost deplated. They are now recruiting 9 year olds it just goes to show you that they ran out of military age males and also using old men

Pave Way IV

Yeah, sounds like the Houthis are about ready to give up.

https://twitter.com/daily_yemen/status/1364328585381744642

Narine Joa

Lmao. Same fake reports that were saying we conquered half of Marib and we are their the next day or the day after. The Houthis got completely bashed. How many fake articles do you think just FAKE news southfront wrote on it about 100 hundred since the battle begin but nowhere are the houthis to be seen

Hasbara Hunter

You are FAKE…

Joaquin

A video from days ago depicting about 9 dead fighters in a battle of this scale says nothing. Maybe the lack of more such videos says something

Pave Way IV

You have cowardly Saudi F-15 pilots dropping JDAMs all day long on Ansar Allah. You got UAE-backed ISIS and Saudi-backed al Qaeda head-choppers protecting Hadi’s corrupt ass and his forces in Marib. You have one of the best-equipped, richest armies in the Middle East fighting alongside Hadi loyalists. The entire UN ‘humanitarian’ community is crying crocodile tears for the IDPs and calling for Ansar Allah to stop liberating their own country. Reuters harpies chime in calling Ansar Allah’s Marib campaign an Iranian-backed blood bath of two million… no, wait… three million civilians (because… Shia).

All this, and the YSF and their cucked local pals STILL had their ass pushed almost back through the gates of Marib city. The ‘massive counter-attack’ and aerial bombardment has won the YSF back a couple of km of the N5 going nowhere. Wow. A couple more km and you’ll have that gas station in Kasarah flying the Saudi colors again. Snackbar!

I can’t wait until the Marib troops flee the city and try to evacuate south. The STC will be waiting to pick the horrified stragglers off like rats.

Arch Bungle

More fake pictures of dead Saudi Sudanese mercenaries.

Faisal Al Al Mahdi

Ansar Allah and the popular committees will not sit back and shell the city. Civilian causalities are of high concern to their planners. Lets see what’s next

Hasbara Hunter

You have been Massmurdering Kids…did you like it killing Goyim?

Arch Bungle

He is worse than a mass murderer of kids.

He is too weak to butcher them himself.

But only stands and cheers as others do.

Arch Bungle

You’re going to look really stupid when Ansar Allah take Marib and boot the House of SAudi Wahabbistan back to the pig sty they were born from.

Faisal Al Al Mahdi

In the name of God most merciful, most intensely merciful.
there are old men and there are certainly youngsters but i do not believe 9 years old (can you prove it?), that shows you up as a probably propagandist. You have to understand that it is a revolutionary mass movement with a highly politicised population , their army is made up of volunteers and many old people are volunteering and so are teen agers, but dont forget in their culture a teen as young as 12 or 13 is seen as an adult.
it is Ansar Allah that is releasing children, captured on battle fields whom they found conscripted by the American/ISIS forces. (this last point is proven by videos and testimony from Yemen)

Hasbara Hunter

Provide the Houthis with the right equipment & they will Steamroll to Riyadh…Jewish House of Wahhabistan King Machamad ben Shlomo is a dead man walking….

Supreme Blyat

If anyone would listen your advices, the war was over by now.

Hasbara Hunter

Yup the 99% would have shaken hands in Unity to get rid of the Devil’s little hellpers….Rothschild, Queen Elizabeth II, Rockefeller, B.Lair, Cheney & the NeoCons, Satanyahu, Bush, The Clintons, Ben Shlomo, Bill Gates, 13 Satanic Families, Mark Rutte and a shitload of other Treacherous AngloZioNazi Paedophile Parasites would be dangling in the trees by now…serving as Crow-Food….I’m afraid I’ll have to wait a little longer….patience is a good virtue…

Supreme Blyat

So the rest of billionaires are ok then

Hasbara Hunter

I said: AND a shitload of other Treacherous AngloZioNazi Paedophile Parasites

Supreme Blyat

The Chinese and Russian billionaires are with the people.

Hasbara Hunter

The West has had their chances to prove they were good leaders for at least 1000 years & they’ve completely f*cked up…We will see how the East will manage things in the future…because the West is done that is one thing for sure…Here in Holland I’m waiting for the Biggest Crisis Ever & a Potential Civil War thanks to my Treacherous ZioNazi-Government & its Lockdowns…which has only accelerated the Great awakening of’m Dutch Sheeple

Supreme Blyat

Ok got it, West billionaires bad, East billionaires good.

Hasbara Hunter

Depends on how these Billionaires made their money…they just have to show to the 99% how they’ve earned their money…if everything is fine they can keep it…if not their assets will be seized…that is called justice right?

Supreme Blyat

You don’t mention them too often, as good examples of billionaires… Always naming the bad ones but avoiding the good ones.

Hasbara Hunter

Who?

Supreme Blyat

For comparison with the bad Western billionaires yoy can name some Chinese and Russian billionaires and tell a few things about them, how they contributed to progress of humanity and how the Western billionaires should take examples from the good billionaires.

Hasbara Hunter

Sure I will do that…just send me a list with your most favorite Chinese & Russian Billionaires and all the good things they have done…I promise I’ll read it..If they are Good Billionaires for sure I will mention them…

Supreme Blyat

I don’t have any favourite billionaires, for me all are the same. Seems for you Eastern billionaires are good since you always mentionin only the Western ones as evil.

Hasbara Hunter

I am with the Scum….Evil Criminal Billionaires on this Planet should be dragged to an independent Court…When convicted of any crimes their assets will be seized & the former Billionaires will be tossed in jail or executed…whatever…

Supreme Blyat

Just the Western billionaires, you forgot to mention

Hasbara Hunter

Can you read?! ON THIS PLANET!

Faisal Al Al Mahdi

most are bad. know them by their fruits of their labor. if we don’t have equal share of resources for all while safeguarding the earth then it isn’t fair and most likely some degree of evil.
O saviour of humanity, Imam Mahdi (AS) hasten your liberation of this Earth, Amen

Icarus Tanović

Boys in sandals kicked NaziNeoliberalziowahhabisatanists real good.

Garga

The irony here is that Ma’rib was always traditionally been under Saudi influence, long before the invasion on Yemen started.
Tribes of Ma’rib had good relations with Saudi Arabia and its government, sent their children there to study in their schools and this cycle continued. What happened after the war was the idiot puppet government thought they need to rule with an iron fist, not only in Ma’rib but everywhere.
This kind of behaviour doesn’t generate great results with tribes that are not used to take crap from anybody, they never let outsiders tell them what to do in their history but after the war, forced enlistments started and almost all valuable resources of Ma’rib and other governorates were taken by force by the puppet government or at that time, their STC friends.
Yemen is a tribal society, tribe comes first and elder of the tribe enjoys unique position of power. You don’t can’t humiliate a tribe and expect them to remain loyal. In short, the pupprt government successfully managed to sever all ties between tribes loyal to south or Saudis and what used to connect them no longer functions. Even throwing lots of money is now considered an insult and gives the opposite results.

They hoped that Ma’rib becomes a spring board for capture of Sana’a, instead they are losing it and ;this loss has great consequences for Saudis (puppet Hadi is no longer a concern and loss of stolen oil and gas will be the least of their headaches).

What Ansarallah did was to negotiate with these tribes -tribes which control vast stretches of land from south to border with Arabia. Now almost all of tribes in Ma’rib (up to border in north in al-Jawf and Hadramout) switched side because of the way they were treated by Hadi/STC, and tribes never forget how they were treated. When the Ma’rib is liberated, new fronts more to the east will open for incursions into southern Arabia.

Any tribe that openly declares their support of Ansarallah is bombed by Saudis. One of the reasons of friendly fire/mistake bombing of friendly forces (which we attributed to a certain Saudi pilot!) is this or even if Saudis “suspect” that something is going on. There were times that they bombed friendly tribes based on a wrong suspicion and guess what happened as a result.

Ansarallah and Army now have the eastern road to Hadhramout under direct fire, other roads (3 in total) are either under their control or fire. All major elevations around the city is under their control (Hadi government says they are not important!). In other words, Ma’rib is under a complete siege by army and popular committees. Emirati mercenaries totally abandoned Saudis in Ma’rib shortly after it started. Saudis don’t have enough forces, hence the use of AQ and ISIS which are now busy placing booby traps all over city. They injected a lot of money into Yemeni ISIS and openly work with them so it declares a “Yemen Emirate/Caliphate” and ISIS members from everywhere pour into Yemen. It’s a stupid plan but come on, for once we are witnessing a Saudi long term plan!

Arch Bungle

If what you say is accurate about Ansar Allah negotiating support with the tribes around Ma’arib, then given current penetration of the Houthi force around Ma’arib, it is almost certain they will take Ma’arib shortly.

At least they will maintain a presence around Ma’arib.

However, the question is, once (if) they capture Ma’arib, what then?

Will they have to hold the city? If they hold it, they become a stationary target.

Resistance movements win by staying constantly on the move. Which raises the question – is there even any value in taking and holding Ma’arib?

Garga

Ofcourse there is.

Yemen’s salvation government currently holds almost all population centers and major cities. Ma’rib will be like one of them.
The important matter is that Ansarallah enjoys widespread popular support. They did not hold the area by military presence, the people did it for themselves but whenever and wherever somewhere comes under attack, the army and popular committees send reinforcement to defend.
Liberation of Ma’rib has a few benefits, some has minor importance for Ansarallah but huge implications for the Murder coalition and vice versa. Here are a few:
– Ma’rib is the last major city in the hands of Saudi coalition (they have no control over Aden)
– The puppet government uses the oil and gas reserves in this governorate. With liberation, they are deprived of this source and burden of supplying them falls on Saudi shoulder. I don’t count on Ansarallah using this source because Saudi mercenaries might saboutage the infrastructure before liberation or bomb it after.
– Ma’rib is a the western gateway to Sana’a. Its liberation secures the capital better than before.
– If you take a look at the map, with liberation of Ma’rib there won’t be any road remaining under Saudi puppet control which connects Arabia to Yemen other than a long, twisty, unsafe and not a good road from al-Wadi’ah border crossing down to the southern shore and from there with a lot of twists to Aden (The road from Manfad al-Khazra’ border crossing is already unusable for Saudis). Logistics become harder for them as everything has to be moved by sea, disembarks in either Aden or al-Mokalla (which is not a port with capacity needed and is very far).
– With liberation of Ma’rib and cooperation of tribes the deserts east of Jawf and Ma’rib in Hadhramout open up to Ansarallah and army for operations against Arabian soil.
– With Ma’rib liberated, they can divert their attention to the west. There’s a lot of shoreline on the west coast which needs liberation.

If Ma’rib wasn’t important, we wouldn’t hear shrieks from the UN and western governments about the “imminent human catastrophe” and pressure to halt Ansarallah and army’s advance. Everybody suddenly becomes interested in peace. Notable is, the same people were absolutely silent against all crimes of Saudi coalition and the US in Yemen. And Zionist regime is freaking out.

Faisal Al Al Mahdi

spot on Mash’Allah,
The fire from Yemen will not stop till it reaches Syria – authentic end times prophecy
Ansar Allah is that fire. “Saudi” Arabia” will not last much longer . liberation and vengeance is coming.
Vengeance Vengeance for the martyr of Imam Hussein, he who died for the sake of humanity, peace be upon Him.

Faisal Al Al Mahdi

They are holding most of the populated centers gf Yemen, The popular committees and the Ansar Allah are of the people of Yemen in the truest revolutionary sense. They will hold and expand out of Marib.
To answer the point above about Yemeni’s relationship with “Saudi” Arabia. most Southern tribes of Arabia are Yemeni, the relationship between these Arab tribes goes back millennia, but it was Yemen that was the educated and civilizational force of Arabia not the people of Najd (eg saudi or wahabi). eg Marib Dam is thousands of years old.
There is authentic hadith of the messenger of Allah (saws) describing Najd as the source of evil and woe to Muslims.