The Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen said on Saturday it had killed 160 Houthi rebels in new raids south of the strategic city of Marib, where fighting has left hundreds dead in recent days.
Read alsoYemen: deadly battle for control of Marib
"
We have carried out 32 strikes in al-Abdiya (some 100 km south of Marib) in the last 24 hours (...) 11 military vehicles have been destroyed and more than 160 terrorist elements eliminated,
" the coalition said. , quoted by the official Saudi agency SPA.
The rebels are advancing and are now "
at the center of the al-Abdiya sector after a siege that lasted four weeks,
" a loyalist source told AFP on Saturday.
Devastating war
The last government stronghold in northern Yemen largely dominated by the Houthis, Marib, the capital of the province with the same name, is at the heart of a fierce battle.
The Houthis launched a campaign to take the city in February and have recently stepped up their offensive.
The coalition has responded since Monday with a salvo of airstrikes that it said killed more than 700 insurgents.
These figures could not be verified from an independent source.
And the Houthis rarely communicate about victims in their ranks.
Read alsoYemen: 111 loyalist and rebel fighters killed in Marib in three days
According to the loyalist source, the rebels "
kidnapped, imprisoned and mistreated
" members of tribes who supported pro-government forces.
Nearly 20 members of the loyalist forces and these tribes have been killed in the past 24 hours and 47 have been injured, he said.
Another military official confirmed this toll to AFP.
The two camps have been waging a devastating war since 2014, when the Houthis, close to Iran, seized the capital Sanaa (north).
Since 2015, the Saudi-led coalition has intervened to support loyalist forces.
Read also More than 180 Yemeni rebels killed in new raids south of Marib
The war in Yemen has plunged the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula into the world's worst humanitarian crisis, according to the UN, pushing the population to the brink of famine.
Tens of thousands of people, most of them civilians, have been killed and millions displaced since the start of the conflict.
Nearly 10,000 people were displaced in September alone in Marib province, according to the International Organization for Migration.
