Mukalla: The Iran-backed Houthi group fired two ballistic missiles at the central Yemeni city of Marib on Tuesday, local government officials said, as it massed a large number of fighters and military equipment outside the city.

Rashad al-Mikhlafi, a military official at the Guidance Department of the Yemeni Armed Forces, told Arab News by phone that two missiles landed between al-Tadaween and al-Shabwani, north of Marib, close to a military base and a camp for the internally displaced. . Al-Mikhlafi said, “The missiles exploded in an open area in Marib, without causing any casualties.”

The missile attack comes as three government officials told Arab News that the Houthis were amassing huge reserves of military equipment and fighters outside Marib in preparation for an assault on the energy-rich city. The offensive was halted by a UN-brokered truce that took effect in April last year.

“They have assembled fighters and huge military equipment, including armored vehicles, cannons and drone launchers, in the southern, western, northern, eastern and northern regions of Marib,” Al-Mikhlafi said. Two other government sources told Arab News about the Houthi military gatherings outside Marib.

To counter the impending attack, the Yemeni army deployed battalions and heavy weapons on the outskirts of the city. We are ready to repel any attack. We have reinforced the front lines with newly graduated military battalions, including sniper forces and infantry. Al-Mikhlafi said that what the Houthis could not achieve in previous years will be possible today.

The Houthis launched a major military attack on Marib in early 2021 that claimed the lives of thousands of fighters and civilians and sparked widespread local and international condemnation.

Despite being closer to the city than ever before, the Houthis were unable to control the city and its oil and gas fields, and were forced to stop military operations.

The Yemeni government confirms that it will fulfill its obligations to international mediators to reduce the escalation in Marib and other areas of tension in the country, but it will respond to any military operations.

We are aware that the Houthis have massed their forces along the administrative borders in Lahj and Al-Dhalea and in Marib. The legitimate government is ready to repel any attack even when the Saudi, UN, American and European mediators advise restraint,” a government official who requested anonymity told Arab News.

At the same time, Yemeni experts believe that the Houthis took advantage of the Arab coalition’s suspension of bombing under the armistice to move military equipment and large weapons out of Marib.

Muhammad al-Salihi, editor-in-chief of the Marib Press news website, told Arab News that the Houthis have been determined to control Marib since the beginning of the war, not only for its strategic location, oil and gas fields, and major power station. But also because it strongly rejected the Houthi takeover of power in Yemen. “Marib is the governorate that strongly opposed the Houthi militia from day one, and it is home to all opponents of the Houthis,” Al-Salihi said.