At least 70 government soldiers were killed on Saturday (January 18th) in a Houthi rebel missile fire against the mosque of a military camp in Marib province, east of Sanaa, doctors and military officials said on Sunday.
The dead and wounded were taken to the hospital in the town of Marib, the capital of the province of the same name, where a medical source assured that“At least 70 soldiers have been killed”. The death toll was confirmed by government military officials who claimed that the attack was launched by the Houthis. The military camp mosque was targeted by a missile and then by a drone, said a military source.
“Iran’s instrument in the region”
President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi also accused the Houthis of being responsible for the attack, which he described as “Coward and terrorist”, according to the official Saba agency. His government – recognized by the international community and supported by a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia – has been at war with the rebels since 2014, the year in which they captured the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen.
“This shameful action by the Houthi militia confirms that it has no peaceful intention, that it only wants death and destruction and that it is the instrument of Iran in the region”, accused President Hadi. The Houthis did not claim responsibility for the attack.
According to various humanitarian organizations, the conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, mainly civilians, since the 2015 intervention of Riyadh at the head of the coalition. About 3.3 million people are still displaced and 24.1 million, more than two-thirds of the population, are in need of assistance, according to the United Nations (UN), which regularly describes the conflict in Yemen as worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
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