After formation of the Hadhramout National Council (HNC) in the oil-rich province last month, the Saudi-backed mercenaries are making moves in the strategically important Ma’rib city, posing new challenge to Sana'a-based National Salvation Government (NSG).
According to Arab media outlets, the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Islah Party in Ma'rib has recently been disrupting peace in the city in a bid to press the local tribes and turn the city into its base. It is said that the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) assassinates the tribal leaders of Ma'rib who are opposed to Islah Party in order to remove the biggest obstacle to its seizure. To this end, recently, Sheikh Mubarak bin Taleb, one of the leaders of the Marib tribes, was killed by members of the so-called ‘road security forces’, a militia affiliated with the MB in Ma'rib.
Despite a push by the MB to seize control of the city, all signs suggest an escalation against its presence in Ma'rib, with local people pushing against their occupation. Though some tribes, including Murad, Jaham, Al-Jadan, and Bani Jabr, paved the way for the MB occupation, Ubaidah tribe, historically dubbed as guardian of Saba’, has been the only tribe still fighting the MB forces as it considers the latter's presence a threat to Ma’rib security.
The clashes among the tribes that have essential disputes provides a proper opportunity for Islah Party to take control of this part of Yemen taking advantage of chaos. Although the tribes of Ma’rib are adamantly against the MB gaining power in this region, on the other hand, some of them do not have good relations with Ansarullah, the revolutionary force holding Sana'a, and this issue has allowed the MB to expand their influence in parts of this city.
Though some Ma'rib tribes have no friendly relationship with NSG and, according to some sources, are afraid that with their involvement in a battle with Islah Party the balance will change in favor of Ansarullah, the experience of past years shows that Sana'a has no hostility to them and even tried to save people from the occupation. In recent years, Ma'rib has turned into a hot spot between Ansarullah and proxies of the Saudi coalition, and Yemeni forces managed to retake part of this strategic city.
Though claims of local sources close to Saudis in Ma'rib emphasize the breakup of the tribes of this province with Ansarullah, in November 2021, and in the midst of growing conflicts in the city, Yemeni sources reported that delegations of Jabal Murad and Ubaidah tribes went to Sana'a to meet with Ansarullah officials visit. The meeting was meant to make military coordination between the two sides to establish security in Ma'rib and drive out the Saudi mercenaries and showed that the people of this Ma'rib are interested in joining the NSG since Ansarullah’s main approach is to preserve the territorial integrity and expel the Saudi and Emirati invaders which is the general demand of the majority of Yemenis.
MB has no legitimacy
Khaled Baghlan, the head of Saba of Youth Council of Yemen, holds that Islah Party as the political wing of MB since the administration of the fugitive President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi exploited its control and legitimacy to impose its hegemony and influence especially in Ma'rib. However, it failed to undermine the tribal power factors in the city and only managed to recruit some social figures in return for offering them posts and financial privileges from oil revenues.
Having in mind that the MB has no popular base in Ma'rib, it resorts to violence and terror to forge for itself a social position. After the collapse of Mansour Hadi's government and expulsion from their traditional spheres of influence like Socotra Island, the MB forces have been trying to maintain their foothold in other areas by any means.
Strategic significance of Ma'rib
The MB picked Ma'rib as its area of influence due to its strategic significance that allows the group to rebuild its organizational and military power. Due to its oil and gas reserves, history and cohesion of its tribal structure, Ma'rib has an important role in Yemen's political, economic, and military equations.
Ma'rib is home to the country’s biggest oil field, Safer, that is responsible for providing gas to the whole country. It has the biggest power station and its oil refinery process 10,000 oil barrels a day.
According to the head of the Saba Youth Council, Ma'rib seems to be a great booty and a valuable treasure in the eyes of the MB which must be preserved, especially after a tax hike of 200 percent.
The city's major source of income is not just gas, but also value-added taxes that are not submitted to the Aden-based central bank of Yemen. These revenues are seized by Ma'rib officials for personal wealth and for investing abroad. They also use revenues to recruit fighters and bribe tribal and party leaders to close their eyes to illegal actions and avoid financial reports to the central bank.
On the other hand, Ma'rib is important politically for Ansarullah and the aggression coalition. It is the eastern gate of Sana'a and Ansarullah tries to take its control to force Saudi Arabia's mercenaries away from the capital Sana'a and solidify its control over central regions. Liberation of this city was so important that two years ago, whenever Ansarullah achieved success in battle for the city, the Saudi authorities, with the mediation of the UN representative, tried to slow down the progress under ceasefire deals, because Ma'rib is considered the main artery of the aggression forces in Yemen, and losing it will risk losing other occupied regions to Ansarullah.
Since Ma'rib borders Hadhramout and Shabwa provinces, its liberation will pave the way for liberation of the eastern oil-rich provinces. Over the past year, Saudi Arabia and the US have made many moves to completely occupy Hadramaut and Al-Mahrah provinces, and in order ward off Ansarullah's threats, they are trying to bring the MB to power in Ma'rib and deploy this group to Lajman in opposition to Ansarallah to block the advance of Sana'a forces to the east. They know that with control of Ma’rib by Ansarullah, conditions change for better for its forces and practically the ground encirclement of Sana'a-controlled provinces will collapse.
Moreover, Ma'rib is the last stronghold of the resigned government in north of the country, and its control by Ansarullah will somehow mean end of the Saudi-backed government. Also, Ansarullah's control over this strategic city allows Sana'a to use its oil and gas resources, because the fuel crisis has become the biggest challenge of the NSG in recent years, and this is in conflict with the interests of the occupiers who are trying to cut pff Ansarullah's hand from oil and gas resources.
Since MB forces are Yemeni, the Saudis are trying to purport that they have no role in the tensions and the fight is inter-Yemeni.
Recent Saudi and Emirati moves in Hadhramout and Ma'rib to block
Ansarullah's progress and perpetuate occupation in Yemen are of no avail
since developments in recent months suggested that the aggression
coalition has come to its end، and shaking of MB’s power foundations in Ma'rib bears witness to this fact.
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