Houthi offensive on Yemen's Marib threatens mass displacement, UN warns

The recent push towards Marib by Houthi forces, who control Yemen's most populous areas

DUBAI (Reuters) - An offensive by Yemen s Houthi group to take Marib city, the last stronghold of the internationally-recognised government, threatens to displace hundreds of thousands and complicate a renewed diplomatic push to end the war, U.N. officials say.

The gas-rich region of Marib has been a refuge for hundreds of thousands of people fleeing violence during Yemen s six-year-old war, expanding its main city rapidly.

A frontline is now roughly 30 km (18 miles) away to the city s west, a government official told Reuters, and humanitarian concerns are growing.

"An assault on the city would put two million civilians at risk, with hundreds of thousands potentially forced to flee - with unimaginable humanitarian consequences," U.N aid chief Mark Lowcock said on Tuesday, urging de-escalation.

The United States on Tuesday also warned of a worsening humanitarian crisis, and called on the Houthis to halt the assault, end all military operations, and join U.N.-led efforts to find a negotiated settlement to the war.

"The Houthis’ assault on Marib is the action of a group not committed to peace or to ending the war afflicting the people of Yemen," State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.

The recent push towards Marib by Houthi forces, who control Yemen s most populous areas, comes alongside intensified drone attacks into Saudi Arabia by the Iran-aligned group. Riyadh, which leads a coalition fighting the Houthis, said one attack started a fire in a civilian aircraft at an airport in southern Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

These escalations have coincided with a fresh push by the United Nations and the United States to end the war, which the United Nations says has created the world s largest humanitarian crisis. This push includes Washington revoking a terrorist designation of the Houthis introduced by then-President Donald Trump s administration in January.

U.N. Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths has said the resumption of Houthi hostilities near Marib was extremely concerning at a time of renewed diplomatic momentum.

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Houthi offensives in recent days have hit camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs), causing people to flee, Yemen s information minister said.

Najeeb Al-Saadi, director of the government s IDP camp management unit, told Reuters Houthi forces on Monday hit four camps to Marib city s east. Two locations were completely evacuated, he said.

Residents in Marib city, which lies to the east of the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa, told Reuters on Tuesday they have heard the sound of explosions this week, more strongly at night, and that planes belonging to the Saudi-led coalition are a constant sight overhead.

Yemen is divided between the internationally recognised government based in the south - supported by the Saudi-led coalition - and the Houthi movement headquartered in the north. The Houthis ousted the government from power in the capital Sanaa in late 2014.

Yemen s frontlines have largely been in stalemate for years but a major Houthi gain in Marib would leave the group in control of what historically was known as North Yemen. Marib city is also the last line of defence before Yemen s biggest gas and oil fields, which are in government hands.

The U.N. s International Organisation for Migration (IOM)says 106,449 people have been displaced by fighting which has been bubbling along the Marib frontlines for a year.

It warned an additional 385,000 people could be displaced with a major frontline shift. There are 125 displacement sites around Marib, IOM says.