Saudi-led coalition says 138 rebels killed near Yemen’s Marib

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen says it has killed 138 Houthi rebels over the previous 24 hours in raids near the government stronghold of Marib.

The coalition, which has militarily backed the internationally recognized Yemeni government since 2015, has reported strikes on a near-daily basis with high tolls each time.

The Houthis rarely comment on the strikes but have continued their advance towards Marib, the last remaining government stronghold in the north.

AFP cannot independently verify the death tolls — well over 2,000 since the strikes began in October.

“Seventeen military vehicles were destroyed and 138” rebels have been killed during the air raids on Al-Jubah, south of Marib, and Al-Kassara to the northwest, according to a coalition statement reported by the official Saudi Press Agency.

Yemen’s civil war was sparked after the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa in 2014, prompting Saudi-led forces to intervene to prop up the government the following year. Tens of thousands of people have died and millions displaced in what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.