Yemen’s internationally recognised government said on Tuesday that at least 1,000 Houthi fighters were killed last month as the Arab Coalition thwarted a rebel attack in the Red Sea.
The Iran-backed rebels have been pushing on several fronts towards the last government-controlled major northern city, Marib, and other towns, intensifying the war.
“At least 1,000 Houthis, including 215 field commanders and military officers, were killed in fighting with government forces or in Arab Coalition air strikes,” Yemen’s Defence Ministry said.
Government forces halted Houthi attempts to take control of Marib, Defence Minister Mohammed Al Maqdishi said.
He praised the Arab Coalition’s role in supporting the army.
The international community warned that a Houthi victory in Marib would mean they would have complete control of Yemen’s north.
The UN's efforts to secure a peace deal based on a nationwide ceasefire would also be hampered as the conflict would intensify and thousands more people would be displaced.
Houthi rebels and officials from the Saudi-led Arab coalition began back-channel talks last year.
For months, the UN envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, has been pushing the sides to agree on a ceasefire deal that would pave the way for broader talks to end the war.
Mr Griffiths told the UN Security Council that he sent an advanced draft of the agreement to the parties, and warned the international community not to underestimate the political importance of Marib.
The UN says fighting in Marib has displaced nearly a million people, and threatens about 750,000 refugees who have settled in the city since the war started in 2014.
Meanwhile, the Arab Coalition thwarted a “terror” attack by the Houthis in the Red Sea.
A remote-controlled, explosive-laden rebel boat was destroyed near the western coastal city of As Salif, the coalition said.
This is a tactic used by the rebels to attack ships off Yemen’s coast.
The Yemen war erupted in late 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of the country’s north.
A Saudi-led military coalition intervened the following year in an effort to restore the government of President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi to power.
Innotech Profile
Date started: 2013
Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari
Based: Muscat, Oman
Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies
Size: 15 full-time employees
Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing
Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now.
Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten
Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a month before Reaching the Last Mile.
Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
The alternatives
• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.
• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.
• Tap started in May 2013 in Kuwait, allowing Middle East businesses to bill, accept, receive and make payments online “easier, faster and smoother” via goSell and goCollect. It supports more than 10,000 merchants. Monthly fees range from US$65-100, plus card charges of 2.75-3.75 per cent and Dh1.2 per sale.
• 2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.
• PayPal is probably the best-known online goods payment method - usually used for eBay purchases - but can be used to receive funds, providing everyone’s signed up. Costs from 2.9 per cent plus Dh1.2 per transaction.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
