According to reports from Yemen, with the new development, the Houthis will be able to control the city of Ma’rib, after they recaptured ten of the governorate’s 14 directorates, the Middle East Monitor reported.

Local sources said the Houthis have Gained control of Al-Sadara strategic area as well as the Al-Kula region, adding that violent clashes were taking place between the Houthis backed by tribesmen, and the ex-Yemeni government militants backed Saudi Arabia in the Al-Manqil area near Al-Jawba.

The Yemeni army has sent thousands of fighters to the province over the past couple of weeks to expel forces loyal to the ex-government.

Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia has been conducting a bloody military aggression in Yemen with help from its regional allies, and using arms supplied by its Western backers. The aim of the war has been to bring Yemen’s former president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi back to power and defeat the Houthi Ansarullah movement.

Yemeni armed forces have been boosting their military capabilities and responding to the attacks using domestic missiles and drones, and targeting sensitive oil installations and military sites deep inside the Saudi territory.

Since 2015, over 100,000 people have been killed, according to the US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED).

The palace in Sana’a, currently used by the Houthi Ansarullah Movement, was pounded by at least four airstrikes late Monday, the Arabic-language al-Masirah television network reported.

It’s the first time the building has been targeted in almost three years of war.

They also targeted the al-Sabeen region near Sana’a five times.

In the meantime, at least 18 civilians were killed or injured on Monday in the Saudi-led coalition warplanes attack on Na’adh Market on Sanhan and Bani Bahlol districts in Sana’a province, the Yemen’s official Saba News Agency reported.

Saudis have stepped up attacks on Yemen, in particular Sana’a following death of their ally, the former Yemeni dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saleh was killed after betraying the Yemen revolution and allying with the Saudi-led coalition which is pounding the country for the past three years.

Yemeni capital witnessed street clashes between the Houthi Ansarullah Movement and Saleh forces in recent days but the country’s Army Spokesman Brigadier General Sharaf Luqman said on Monday that security has been restored in the whole Sana’a province.

Yemen’s defenseless people have been under massive attacks by the Saudi-led coalition for the past three years but Riyadh has reached none of its objectives in Yemen so far.

Over 12,000 Yemenis, including thousands of women and children, have lost their lives in the deadly military campaign.