AL-MUKALLA: The Yemeni army has urged the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to help retrieve the bodies of Houthi fighters abandoned on battlefields in the central province of Marib and the northern province of Jouf.

Military spokesman Abdu Abdullah Majili told Arab News on Tuesday that dozens of corpses of Houthi fighters have been left in conflict zones in Jouf and Marib as the Iran-backed militia presses ahead with a major offensive to recapture the oil and gas-rich city of Marib.

“We demand the International Committee of the Red Cross mount pressure on the Houthis to retrieve the bodies of their dead fighters. The bodies are scattered in mountains and deserts of Marib and Jouf,” Majili said.

Army soldiers and tribesmen battling the rebels in two provinces warned of the spread of disease among combatants as dozens of abandoned bodies were left to rot.

“Serwah is the worst front in terms of health. The attacks of mosquitoes and flies are more intense than the attacks of the Houthis because of the corpses of the Houthi militia,” Mohammed, an army soldier in Marib, said on Twitter.

Responding to the army’s demands, the ICRC office in Sanaa said it has not received an official request from warring factions in Yemen to retrieve bodies of dead fighters, adding that a halt to hostilities would be necessary before any evacuation could take place.

“Once we receive an official request by concerned parties to the conflict, we are ready to support such an initiative provided that all parties to the conflict provide the necessary security guarantees that will allow this mission to be carried out by the ICRC and Yemen Red Crescent Society (YRCS),” Basheer Omar, ICRC spokesperson in Yemen, told Arab News on Tuesday.

Fighting raged on Tuesday on main battlefields in Marib and Jouf as the Yemeni army and allied tribesmen, backed by massive air support and military logistics from the Arab coalition, fought off relentless attacks by the Houthis who sought to advance toward Marib city, the Yemeni government’s last bastion in the northern part of the country.

Majili said that hundreds of rebel fighters have been killed since earlier this month when the Houthis resumed a major offensive to seize control of Marib.

“What I can tell you is that the national army and the tribesmen have pushed back the Houthi militia’s attacks in Marib and Jouf and inflicted heavy defeats on them,” he said.

Tuesday’s fighting focused on mountainous areas in Serwah, Al-Makhdra, Murad, Al-Karsara to the west and north of Marib city, and in Al-Khanjer, Al-Aqsha and Al-Duhydha in the province of Jouf.

In the Houthi-controlled areas in northern Yemen, militia leaders continue to call for financial support and mobilization of young people for the offensive on Marib, claiming that the aim is to seize gas and oil facilities.

At a meeting with supporters in the province of Dhamar, Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti, a Houthi leader, said the movement declared “jihad” against government forces in Marib to recapture oil and gas fields, and break an embargo on their territories.

At the same time, local and international aid bodies said that thousands of people have been forced from their homes in Marib during the latest surge in fighting in the province.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that more than 8,000 people have been displaced in recent weeks, adding that 14 displacement sites that host 30,000 displaced people in Serwah district have been affected by the raging fighting.

“Displacement sites should be refuges. All civilians, including displaced people, must be afforded protection from the fighting. The local community in Marib has long welcomed vulnerable displaced people, but today the situation is far beyond something they can manage alone,” John McCue, the IOM’s deputy chief of mission, in Yemen said in a statement.

The government’s Executive Unit for IDPs Camps said the fighting in Marib had led to the displacement of 12,005 people from different camps in the province from Feb. 6 to 21.

CAIRO: The Egyptian Ministry of Health has announced the establishment of a fund to support medical staff after their efforts fighting the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

“Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has been keen to protect medical crews especially when they are fighting COVID-19,” said Hala Zayed, minister of health and population.

“The fund aims to grant benefits to them in cases of death or injuries resulting in a total or partial paralysis,” said Khaled Mujahid, the ministry’s spokesman.

He added: “Compensation for medical crews and their families have been considered since the beginning of the pandemic, under the directives of El-Sisi.”

Mujahid said “the ministry has developed executive procedures to activate the fund. Space for the permanent headquarters of the fund has been allocated in the new administrative capital.”

He added that the ministry has shared a proposal with the board of directors in preparation for its submission to the prime minister.

DUBAI: An angry mob has stormed a district governor’s office in southeastern Iran on Tuesday, footage widely circulating on social media showed, a day after shootings at the border with Pakistan left at least two dead and six wounded.
Following two violent incidents near the border, dozens of protesters descended on the Iranian governors’ office in Saravan, one of the major cities in Sistan-Baluchestan, a desert province that is one of the most restive and least developed parts of Iran.

Videos showed the men screaming “Allahu Akbar” as they punched through glass doors, yanked out air-conditioning units and smashed office furniture against the walls. Once inside, protesters waded through piles of overturned chairs and shattered glass, throwing objects all over the place.
The Associated Press verified the footage based on geographic data.

Mohammad Hadi Marashi, deputy governor of the Sistan and Baluchestan province, told Iranian state TV on Tuesday that the outrage at the governors’ office stemmed from the shooting of several fuel smugglers on the Pakistani side of the border near Saravan the day before.
Marashi pointed a finger at Pakistan, saying its forces had opened fire on a gathering of fuel smugglers that had been trying to cross back into Iran, killing one and wounding four.

Following the shooting, violent clashes erupted Monday at a police station in Saravan, according to Marashi. Iranian border guards opened fire at fuel smugglers trying to storm the station, wounding several. They were taken to nearby hospitals, he added, without providing further details.

Pakistani officials reported that one smuggler was killed and several more wounded in what they called a “firing incident” at the border town of Taftan in southwestern Baluchistan. None of the wounded were taken into Pakistan, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.

Taftan is a well-worn smuggling route, mostly for subsidized diesel fuel from Iran to Pakistan. The impoverished province has seen occasional clashes between Iranian forces and militants, drug traffickers and small separatist groups.

CAIRO: Egypt will receive 6.8 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, said Health and Population Minister Hala Zayed.
Online registration for vaccination will begin next week, with priority for the elderly and those with chronic diseases, she added.
Egypt has contracted for 100 million doses of COVID-19 jabs, 40 million of which are from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Zayed said.
“We know that there is a global shortage, but we were the first African country to receive vaccines and start a vaccination campaign,” she added.
Hossam Hosni, head of the scientific committee to combat coronavirus in Egypt, said vaccinating doctors will be done within weeks, followed by citizens.

BAGHDAD: At least two rockets struck Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone on Monday without causing any casualties, Iraq’s army said in a statement. Security officials said the US Embassy was the target.

Two Iraqi security officials said three rockets struck the Green Zone, one falling within the perimeters of the vast US Embassy complex. They spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

A statement from the military said there were no casualties and that an investigation was ongoing. There was minor property damage, including a damaged vehicle. The Green Zone houses foreign embassies and is the seat of Iraq’s government.

It was the third attack to target the American presence in Iraq in a week. A US-led coalition contractor was killed and other civilians were wounded in a rocket attack outside Irbil international airport last Tuesday. On Saturday, rockets wounded personnel working for a US defense company at Balad airbase in Salahaddin province.

The US Embassy was a frequent target of rocket attacks during the Trump administration. The pace of attacks abated in the weeks before Biden took office and recently resumed.