Houthis Mobilize Forces to Take Control of Safer Oil Fields in Marib

Despite the Houthi deployment of military forces to Taiz province and At Tuhayta district in Al-Hudaydah over the past two days, a military source in the government army told Sheba Intelligence that the Houthis have a military priority at this stage of an economic nature, as they have an ambition to control the oil and gas fields in Marib province to the east of Yemen. 

The source indicated that the Houthis have been mobilizing for weeks on the Al-Alam Front in Al-Jawf province to the north of Marib in the north and Al-Juba Front in the south to repeat their attempt to seize the Safer oil fields.

Through the statements of Houthi leaders, the Houthi group attempts to justify a military escalation in Yemen under the pretext of countering plans by Israel’s allies who plot to wage war against the Houthis. 

Some of the Houthi statements hint at the forces of Tariq Saleh, who is supported by the UAE and has a military presence on the West Coast, particularly on  Mayon Island, overlooking the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

The deputy minister of foreign affairs in the Houthi government, Hussein Al-Ezzi, said in a recent post, “The Israeli entity asked one of the aggression countries to move some of its mercenaries to attack Sanaa, and we hope they would not do. Otherwise,  we prepare to eliminate the mercenaries.”

It has been over one year and a half since the warring sides agreed to de-escalate and seek solutions to the conflict through politics and diplomacy. However, the breakout of the Gaza-Israel war has given the Houthi group a chance to resume its military movements. 

Over the past weeks, it has fired several missiles and drones at Israel. However, observers say the Houthi military movement in Yemen risks plunging the country into a new chapter of war.