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Houthi Attack Kills Dozens at Military Base Near Yemen’s Capital

A coordinated drone and missile attack by Iranian-backed Shi’ite Houthi rebels reportedly killed at least 60 people at a military base in Marib, located some 115 kilometers (70 miles) east of Yemen’s capital Sana’a. The strikes came in response to an ongoing offensive by Saudi-supported, pro-government forces on rebel targets in the same area, which has killed almost two dozen others. The escalation in the North – which remains largely under Houthi control – follows months of relative quiet and comes on the backdrop of renewed clashes near the southern port city of Hodeida, the main entry point for goods and humanitarian aid into the country and where a United Nations-brokered cease-fire is now hanging by a thread. Many Houthi gains in the South were rolled back by a Saudi-led coalition of Sunni Muslim nations that intervened militarily in Yemen in March 2015, shortly after the rebels had seized Sana’a and exiled members of the internationally recognized government. UN-mediated peace talks have since failed to resolve the conflict, with a multipoint plan to stem the fighting, agreed to by the opposing sides over a year ago in Stockholm, Sweden, now teetering on the verge of collapse. The war in Yemen has killed tens of thousands of people and pushed some 15 million more – over half of the nation’s population – to the brink of starvation.