Iran-backed Houthis mobilize around 3000 fighters to Yemen's Marib and Al-Jawf

The Iran-backed Houthis, have mobilized around 2500 fighters to Marib province, and 500 others to the neighboring province of Al-Jawf, as part of their ongoing preparations to ignite the battlefronts and exploit the crisis in the Red Sea and the war in Gaza to achieve field and military gains, as political process is frozen.

Pro-Houthi media said that the militia received units from the reserve forces of the so-called "Ansar Al-Aqsa Brigades" in the directorate of Majzar in Marib province on March 2nd.

Houthi fighters launched a "military march" from the directorate of Harf Sufyan in Amran province, passing through Al-Jawf province and reaching the directorate of Ma'zr, where they covered more than 100 kilometers.

In Al-Masloub directorate in Al-Jawf, 500 Houthi fighters organized a military parade for the graduates of the first batch of the so-called "Tofan Al-Aqsa".

International organizations have warned of the Houthi recruiting tens of thousands of fighters, including children, training them, funding them, and sending them to the frontlines, especially in the provinces of Marib, Al-Jawf, Hodeidah, and Taiz, under the guise of public campaigns to support Gaza.

During the eight years of war, the Houthis attempted to control the city of Marib, the center of the province located northeast of Sanaa, and engaged in fierce battles against government forces, but they failed to achieve their goal.

The Houthis have thwarted opportunities to end the war and achieve peace in Yemen by persisting in launching military attacks against commercial ships in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab, and the Gulf of Aden.

The Houthis have obstructed any agreement leading to a ceasefire in Yemen and reaching a comprehensive political settlement at least during this year. They have shattered the hopes of Yemenis to end the war and achieve peace this year by dragging Yemen into a regional conflict and turning it into a military confrontation and a new war.

Since January 12, the United States and Britain have carried out targeted airstrikes against militia military targets in Sanaa and several provinces in response to ongoing attacks against commercial ships and the disruption of international shipping in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

In his latest briefing to the United Nations Security Council, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, explained that the mediation scene "has become more complex now, with efforts to reach an agreement being disrupted by different priorities and interests."

He emphasized that the escalation of regional tensions related to the war in Gaza, especially the military escalation in the Red Sea, is slowing down the pace of peace efforts in Yemen.