Yemeni government forces again on the backfoot

Houthi rebels recaptured Rahabah and are now threatening to gain control over Marib, the last gov’t stronghold.

Thousands of civilians have been displaced in Yemen’s Marib after a Houthi offensive that began at the start of September saw the rebel group take control of a key district in the south of the governorate. Rahabah, which lies to the east of the Houthi-held capital Sanaa, was captured on September 8 after heavy fighting that led to at least 65 fighters’ death on both sides. “The internally displaced people are suffering,” Mahdi Balgaith, an analyst at the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies, told Al Jazeera.