Yemen official warns dam will break if rebels take Marib
ABC News
The foreign minister of Yemen’s government in exile has warned that a rebel takeover of the crucial, energy-rich city of Marib would be a disaster on the scale of the collapse of its ancient dam that decimated an entire kingdom
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- The foreign minister of Yemen's government in exile warned Sunday that a rebel takeover of the crucial, energy-rich city of Marib would be a disaster on the scale of the collapse of its ancient dam that decimated an entire kingdom.
Ahmad Awad Bin Mubarak's comments mark some of the most dire made regarding the offensive by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who have held Yemen's capital since September 2014. Though the intervention of Saudi-led coalition halted their march south in 2015, the war has slogged on for years and created the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
Meanwhile, forces backing Yemen's exiled government and Saudi Arabia have fallen back recently from the key port city of Hodeida, allowing the Houthis to regain ground there as well.
“Without changing the facts on the ground, the Houthis would not come at all to the table" for possible peace talks, Mubarak warned.
