Houthis Compensate for Losses in Yemen’s Marib by Attacking IDP Camps

A displaced family in a refugee camp near Hodeidah, Yemen (AFP)
A displaced family in a refugee camp near Hodeidah, Yemen (AFP)
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Houthis Compensate for Losses in Yemen’s Marib by Attacking IDP Camps

A displaced family in a refugee camp near Hodeidah, Yemen (AFP)
A displaced family in a refugee camp near Hodeidah, Yemen (AFP)

Houthi militias in Yemen are attacking camps hosting internally displaced Yemenis in Marib governorate, where they incurred heavy losses on southern and western battlefronts, official sources reported.

For its part, the internationally recognized Yemeni government raised the alarm on Houthi consecutive attacks triggering a serious deterioration of humanitarian conditions in Marib.

Fierce clashes continue to erupt across Marib’s western Sirwah district, where pro-government forces, backed by the Saudi-led Arab Coalition, regained impetus.

Arab Coalition warplanes on Sunday targeted Houthi military reinforcements heading for Marib.

The airstrikes destroyed vehicles and pickups transporting reinforcements to Houthis fighters in Sirwah and al-Makhdarah, the Yemeni armed forces' media center said, leaving all the troops onboard killed or injured and the ordnance destroyed.

Earlier on Sunday, the government artillery shelled Houthi gatherings in different sites in Sirwah, leaving the fighters with gross losses in lives and ordnance, the center added.

Yemen’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, in a meeting with French Ambassador Jean-Marie Safa, noted that Houthis do not care for losing fighters.

Houthis are sending their deluded fighters to die in Marib, Mubarak said, adding that the Iran-backed group continues to recruit child soldiers and target civilian areas with ballistic missiles.

Mubarak pointed out that Marib has embraced millions of displaced Yemenis who fled oppression in Houthi-run areas and warned that the continuation of Houthi attacks “will lead to a dire deterioration of humanitarian conditions in the governorate.”

Yemen’s Information Minister Muammar Al-Eryani also condemned the Iran-backed terrorist Houthi militia for deliberately targeting the camps of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Marib.

“Houthi militias have continued to target IDP camps with the most recent attack including the shelling of Azour camp in Sirwah with a ballistic missile and several Katyusha rockets,” the official Saba news agency quoted Eryani as saying.

According to Eryani, Azour hosts over 20,000 IDPs.

The minister criticized the international community and the UN standing idle on the Houthi military escalation in Marib.



Gaza: Polio Vaccine Campaign Kicks off a day Before Expected Pause in Fighting

A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child at a hospital in Khan Younis, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child at a hospital in Khan Younis, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
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Gaza: Polio Vaccine Campaign Kicks off a day Before Expected Pause in Fighting

A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child at a hospital in Khan Younis, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child at a hospital in Khan Younis, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A campaign to inoculate children in Gaza against polio and prevent the spread of the virus began on Saturday, Gaza's Health Ministry said, as Palestinians in both the Hamas-governed enclave and the occupied West Bank reeled from Israel's ongoing military offensives.

Children in Gaza began receiving vaccines, the health ministry told a news conference, a day before the large-scale vaccine rollout and planned pause in fighting agreed to by Israel and the UN World Health Organization. The WHO confirmed the larger campaign would begin Sunday.

“There must be a ceasefire so that the teams can reach everyone targeted by this campaign,” said Dr. Yousef Abu Al-Rish, deputy health minister, describing scenes of sewage running through crowded tent camps in Gaza.

Associated Press journalists saw about 10 infants receiving vaccine doses at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis.

Israel is expected to pause some operations in Gaza on Sunday to allow health workers to administer vaccines to some 650,000 Palestinian children. Officials said the pause would last at least nine hours and is unrelated to ongoing cease-fire negotiations.

“We will vaccinate up to 10-year-olds and God willing we will be fine,” said Dr. Bassam Abu Ahmed, general coordinator of public health programs at Al-Quds University.

The vaccination campaign comes after the first polio case in 25 years in Gaza was discovered this month. Doctors concluded a 10-month-old had been partially paralyzed by a mutated strain of the virus after not being vaccinated due to fighting.

Healthcare workers in Gaza have been warning of the potential for a polio outbreak for months. The humanitarian crisis has deepened during the war that broke out after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were militants.

Hours earlier, the Health Ministry said hospitals received 89 dead on Saturday, including 26 who died in an overnight Israeli bombardment, and 205 wounded — one of the highest daily tallies in months.