Al-Houthi attacks "Al-Jawbah" after the downing of Harib and Al-Abdiyyah. "The Shabwa stab" hits Ma'rib in the heart
English - Sunday 24 October 2021 الساعة 09:51 am
Aden, NewsYemen, special:
The Houthi militia's takeover of the three Baihan districts in western Shabwa governorate (southern Yemen), without real fighting, marked the beginning of a radical shift in the course of its military campaign to control the oil governorate of Marib, the last stronghold of the Yemeni government in the north of the country. Before the fall of Bayhan, in their hands, with the facilities of the Islah Party, the local branch of the Brotherhood, the Houthis were unable to make any significant penetration into the defenses of local tribesmen in the districts of southern Ma’rib, despite the human waves and huge war equipment, which they pushed to attack those areas.
However, the equation changed, from the moments following the Iranian-backed militia’s takeover of the districts of Ain, Alaia and Usaylan, located on the western outskirts of Shabwa, where its path became passable, to encircle strategic areas in the adjacent Marib, to the control of “Harib” and the fall of “Abdiya” after A siege that lasted about 3 weeks, and then the incursion into the Juba district in the same governorate.
The Houthis have benefited a lot from what observers describe as the "betrayal of Shabwa" in strangling the Marib governorate, from its eastern and southern sides, and cutting off the road linking the two neighboring and southern governorates, in addition to the international road.
The recent field developments in Marib came as a natural result of the involvement of civil and military Brotherhood leaders, within the legitimacy system, in handing over Bayhan to the Houthi militia, after the latter had been for several months, incurring losses at the hands of the Murad tribes in the southern part of the governorate.
Meanwhile, the Yemeni government found itself facing a new setback in the fateful battle with the Houthi militias, on the outskirts of the city of Marib, after losing the Harib and Abdiya districts on the southern outskirts of the oil province in the east of the country.
The handover of the "Brotherhood" opened the western gate of Shabwa, the way for the Houthis to penetrate into the heart of Ma'rib, and break the Murad tribes, to complete their control over all the southern strip of the governorate from Rahba to Harib and Bayhan areas, west of Shabwa governorate.
Al-Abdiyyah district was one of the most prominent anti-Houthi fighting fronts in southern Marib. Contrary to the smooth Houthi invasion in Rahba and Harib districts in 2015, Al-Abdiyyah maintained a legendary steadfastness in the face of Houthi militia attacks, in which the latter faced violent resistance and was unable to topple it.
Analysts say that the Houthi control of Bayhan without a fight was not surprising, as much as it is a reflection of a well-defined and targeted project sponsored and implemented by regional parties that use the two groups (the Brotherhood and the Houthis) as local agents and tools to implement their goals in Yemen.
It also carried new evidence of how the Brotherhood tampered with the military battle against the Houthi militia and used it as a means to achieve its goals with regard to the local aspect represented by its continued imposition of its dominance over legitimacy and its decision in full.
