Jordan s estranged Prince Hamza said in a voice recording released on Monday that he would disobey orders by the army.
The United States on Tuesday also warned of a worsening humanitarian crisis, and called on the Houthis to halt the assault, end all military operations, and join UN-led efforts to find a negotiated settlement to the war.
“The Houthis’ assault on Marib is the action of a group not committed to peace or to ending the war afflicting the people of Yemen,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.
The recent push towards Marib by Houthi forces, who control Yemen’s most populous areas, comes alongside intensified drone attacks into Saudi Arabia by the Iran-aligned group. Riyadh, which leads a coalition fighting the Houthis, said one attack started a fire in a civilian aircraft at an airport in southern Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
16 February 2021, 6:50 PM | Reuters | @SABCNews
Image: ReutersThe UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says 106 449 people have been displaced by fighting which has been bubbling along the Marib frontlines for a year
An offensive by Yemen’s Houthi group to take Marib city, the last stronghold of the internationally-recognised government, threatens to displace hundreds of thousands and complicate a renewed diplomatic push to end the war, UN officials say.
The gas-rich region of Marib has been a refuge for hundreds of thousands of people fleeing violence during Yemen’s six-year-old war, expanding its main city rapidly.
Frontline is now roughly 30 km (18 miles) away to the city’s west, a government official told Reuters and humanitarian concerns are growing.
The Straits Times
Houthi offensive on Yemen s Marib threatens mass displacement, UN warns
A girl sits as other children play on swings at a camp for internally displaced people in Marib, Yemen.PHOTO: REUTERS
PublishedFeb 17, 2021, 12:06 am SGT
https://str.sg/JHxR
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