January 2020 Marib attack | |
---|---|
Part of Marib Campaign | |
Type | Drone and missile attack |
Location | Marib, Yemen 15°25′N45°21′E / 15.417°N 45.350°E |
Target | Military camp |
Date | 18 January 2020 |
Executed by | Houthis (denied by Houthis) [1] |
Casualties | 111 soldiers killed [2] 5 civilians [2] killed 148 [3] injured |
On 18 January 2020, a drone and missile attack on a mosque in a military camp near Marib killed at least 111 Yemeni soldiers during evening prayers. Dozens more were injured. [4] [2] No group claimed responsibility, although the Houthi movement is suspected and was accused of carrying out the attack. [5] [6]
The attack was carried out using ballistic missiles and drones. [7] The target was a mosque located on the grounds of a military training camp. It was attacked during evening prayers when dozens of people were inside praying. [8]
The strike had been preceded by months of relative calm in the lingering Yemeni Civil War, where death tolls are often disputed, but the huge toll in Marib represented one of the bloodiest single attacks since the war erupted in 2014. [8]
Marib is the capital city of Marib Governorate, Yemen. It was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Sabaʾ, which some scholars believe to be the ancient Sheba of biblical fame. It is about 120 kilometres east of Yemen's modern capital, Sanaa, and is in the region of the Sarawat Mountains. In 2005 it had a population of 16,794. However, in 2021, it had absorbed close to a million refugees fleeing the Yemeni Civil War.
The Al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen is an ongoing armed conflict between the Yemeni government, the United States and their allies, and al-Qaeda-affiliated cells in Yemen. It is a part of the Global War on Terror.
United States drone strikes in Yemen started after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, when the US military attacked the Islamist militant presence in Yemen, in particular Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula using drone warfare.
The following lists events that happened in 2015 in Yemen.
On 26 March 2015, Saudi Arabia, leading a coalition of nine countries from West Asia and North Africa, launched an intervention in Yemen at the request of Yemeni president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who had been ousted from the capital, Sanaa, in September 2014 by Houthi insurgents during the Yemeni Civil War. Efforts by the United Nations to facilitate a power sharing arrangement under a new transitional government collapsed, leading to escalating conflict between government forces, Houthi rebels, and other armed groups, which culminated in Hadi fleeing to Saudi Arabia shortly before it began military operations in the country.
Al Anad Air Base is a military air base in the Lahij Governorate, Yemen. It is the biggest air base in Yemen.
The siege of Taiz is an ongoing, protracted military confrontation between opposing Yemeni forces in the city of Taiz for control of the city and surrounding area. The battle began one month after the start of the Yemeni Civil War.
The Houthi–Saudi Arabian conflict is an ongoing armed conflict between the Royal Saudi Armed Forces and Iran-backed Yemeni Houthi forces that has been taking place in the Arabian Peninsula, including the southern Saudi regions of Asir, Jizan, and Najran, and northern Yemeni governorates of Saada, Al Jawf, and Hajjah, since the onset of the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen in 2015.
On 4 September 2015, the Houthis launched an OTR-21 Tochka ballistic missile against a military base in Safer, an area in Marib Governorate. The base was being used by military forces of the Saudi-led coalition. The missile hit an ammunition dump, creating a huge explosion which inflicted numerous casualties among coalition troops. 52 Emirati, ten Saudi, five Bahraini soldiers and dozens of pro-Hadi Yemeni troops were killed in the attack.
The following is a timeline of the Yemeni civil war, which began in September 2014.
The Marib campaign, also called Marib offensive, is an ongoing military campaign in the Yemeni civil war for the control of the Marib Governorate of Yemen. Fighting between the Houthi forces and factions of the Yemeni Army loyal to Supreme Political Council on one side, and Yemeni Army units loyal to president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi and militiamen on the other side, has taken place since early 2015. Marib is rich in oil and gas resources and is a key strategic governorate because it connects the Houthi-controlled Sanaa and Alimi-controlled Hadhramaut governorates.
Events of 2020 in Yemen.
The Al Jawf offensive was a Houthi offensive that began in February 2020 with clashes in the Al Jawf Governorate during the Second Yemeni Civil War. Houthi forces were able to decisively capture the town of Al Hazm on 1 March 2020 from the Hadi government. On 27 April, the first phase of the offensive ended with the Houthis capturing 3,500 square kilometers of territory in Al Jawf Governorate. After reinforcing, the Houthis launched the second phase of their offensive on 27 May, making further advances toward the city of Marib and capturing the Maas military base on 20 November, 2020. The Houthis halted the offensive on 5 February 2021, in order to account for changes in the Saudi-led coalition and Southern Transitional Council. After reinforcing once more, the Houthis launched a new offensive towards Marib city on 7 February.
The 2020 Riyadh drone and missile attack was a cruise missile and drone attack carried out by the Yemeni Houthi rebels which occurred on 23 June 2020. The attack, according to the Houthis, targeted the King Khalid Airport and the Defense Ministry headquarters in Saudi Arabia's capital of Riyadh.
On 28 August 2020, Houthi forces launched a ballistic missile and drone attack at a military camp in Marib Governorate, targeting Saudi-led coalition forces supporting the government of Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. The attack killed at least 5 Yemeni soldiers, other sources indicate 40 killed. Soldiers were also reported injured.
The Battle of Marib is an ongoing battle that began in February 2021 following the advance of the Houthis towards the city of Marib, the capital of Marib Governorate in Yemen controlled by the Cabinet of Yemen.
The 2022 Abu Dhabi attack was an attack against three oil tanker trucks and an under construction airport extension infrastructure in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates conducted by the Houthi movement using drones and missiles. Although several missiles and drones were intercepted, 3 civilians were killed and 6 were injured by a drone attack.
Events in the year 2023 in Yemen.
Since the beginning of the Israel–Hamas war, which has mostly been confined to southern Israel and the Gaza Strip, a number of armed clashes and standoffs have been reported in other parts of the Middle East, particularly involving Shia Islamist militias backed by Iran. There has been speculation that any escalation of these incidents, specifically between Israel and Hezbollah—an Iranian-backed Shia militia which is based in southern Lebanon and which is more powerful than the Lebanese Armed Forces —could bring the entire region into a full-scale military conflict. In addition to the Israel–Hezbollah conflict, the Iranian-backed Houthi militia—which controls parts of northern Yemen, but is not internationally recognized as the country's government —became directly involved in the conflict by firing missiles at Israeli cities, albeit on a limited scale; the Houthis have since focused more on seizing civilian cargo ships passing through the Red Sea in order to inflict economic losses on Israel and the global economy, evoking American and British airstrikes against Houthi-controlled Yemen. Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria have also mounted numerous attacks against American military bases in the region; these confrontations have increasingly escalated tensions between long-time adversaries Iran and the United States, especially after the 2024 Iranian missile strikes in Iraq and Syria. In the West Bank, over 100 Palestinians have been killed in armed confrontations with Israeli soldiers and Israeli settlers, as violence in the territory increased drastically following the Hamas-led attack on Israel.