In Yemen, fighting has intensified in recent weeks in the regions of Marib and Al-Jawf, and intense diplomatic efforts have failed to deliver any tangible progress towards reaching a ceasefire. Both the Houthis and the Arab coalition supporting the legitimate government have confirmed several airstrikes conducted by the coalition on various parts of Yemen over the last week. Meanwhile, government forces say they are successfully defending Marib and keeping the Houthis at bay.
The most damage in Marib is reported around the Al-Abdiya district in Marib governorate, which has been besieged for nearly three weeks. The remaining security forces in the city have only barely succeeded in preventing the Houthis from breaking into the city. The siege has in turn caused a humanitarian situation in the district which has not been properly addressed.
The government has called for the international humanitarian agencies to intervene in the matter and to take the humanitarian situation in Marib into consideration. The government has suggested that Marib will not fall into the hands of Houthis but warned that if it happened, the fate of the country will be changed.
In other government-controlled territories, a bomb blast killed six people in Aden in an attack that targeted the convoy of the governor, Ahmed Lamlas, who managed to survive the attack.
The prime minister, Maen Abdulmalik, called for an investigation into the incident while the president, Abdrabbo Mansour Hadi, described the incident as a terrorist operation. Abdulmalik later accused the Houthis of perpetrating the attack.
