The promise of entering Sanaa on the back of a tank evaporates: Marib drives out the invaders

Since the beginning of last June, the military escalation on the Ma’rib fronts has returned to its highest levels, as the Sana’a forces have been able to achieve successive achievements, as represented by their advance in nine districts. The Yemeni army and the “Popular Committees” seized control of the Al-Abdiya, Al-Mahalliya and Rahba districts, and reached the borders of the two districts of Al-Jouba and Jabal Murad, south of Ma’rib, in a few months. We also secured the Sirwah and Majzar districts, and took control of what remained of the Medghal and Raghwan districts, west of the city, and advanced to the Nudd and Alam fronts east of the Safer oil region. While fighting is still more intense on various fronts on Jabal Murad, the outskirts of Raghwan and some Mughal areas, Sana’a’s forces are making remarkable progress on the northern outskirts of the city of Ma’rib, from the direction of Wadi Nakhla and the Al-Sahil area.

In light of these developments, the city of Ma’rib is no longer attractive to military, civilian and party leaders loyal to the government of outgoing President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, as it was years ago. Rather, it has turned into an expulsion of them, especially after the army and “committees” approached their surroundings from multiple directions, and the Defense lines of Hadi’s forces broke. While some leaders were able to secure housing for them in Arab and foreign capitals, notably Cairo, Khartoum and Istanbul, others left the city, which had witnessed a huge construction boom in recent years, and headed for the southern governorates. , especially Shabwa, Hadramout and Al Mahrah. As for the third tranche, those who left their families at their homes in Sanaa years ago, promising to return aboard a tank within a few months at that time, many of them considered benefiting from the general amnesty decision issued by the “Council Supreme Politician “in Sanaa. As a result of this shift, business and investment activity in Marib contracted to the lowest levels.
Amid fears of withdrawing and smuggling large amounts of hard currency from within, after Cairo airport authorities thwarted the smuggling of millions of dollars by military and political leaders close to Hadi’s government during their attempt to bring those funds to Cairo, informed sources in Ataq in Shabwa Governorate, by transferring a series of investments belonging to leaders of the Marib “Reform” party to Shabwa and Al-Mahrah, fearing the fall of the city. The last few months had witnessed, together with the resumption of fighting, a stagnation in trade and investment movements, and a fall in property prices due to the fall in its demand, unlike what happened years ago.
In a parallel vein, Al-Akhbar learned from well-informed sources in the city of Marib that Hadi’s forces have begun to move the headquarters of the third, seventh and sixth military regions of Marib to areas within the scope. of the Shabwa governorate, at a time when consultations are underway to move the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense to the Al-Apr area. In Hadramout governorate, he was later at the mercy of missile attacks by Sana’a forces, with the latter moving closer to the center of the governorate. Also, sources reported that Hadi’s forces are practicing great incitement against the army and “committees” through mosques and schools, and are intimidating merchants from entering the city, calling them “Mongols. ”And calling on people to join the fronts to confront them. This led the governor of Ma’rib, loyal to Sana’a, Muhammad bin Ali Toaiman, to reassure the people of the province and confirm that the decision to settle was issued by the leaders.
Faced with the great advance of the Sana’a forces in the suburbs of Ma’rib, various youth and popular components asked the local authority of the city and the government of Sana’a, to inject blood and reach an agreement that ends to the conflict and avoid the center of the governorate, which is inhabited by about three million people, of which about one million are displaced in the city. 13 camps, fighting, as long as the current local authority continues to function until the position of governor is agreed. But that authority still refuses to respond to the Sanaa initiative, which consists of nine articles, brandishing a street war. Days ago he imposed an undeclared state of emergency, deploying thousands of soldiers on the roofs of houses, at the entrances to the city and on the streets, in a scene that recalls what Sana’a witnessed before its fall at the end of 2014 under the control of “Ansar Allah”. On the other hand, slogans in support of “Ansar Allah” were widely spread on the streets of Marib, causing panic among the security authorities, who arrested several citizens for it.

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