![A picture taken January 29th, 2018, shows the prosthetics and artificial limb department at the Marib Hospital. [Abdullah al-Qadry/AFP]](/cnmi_am/images/2020/02/06/22318-Yemen-Marib-hospital-700_496.webp)
At least eight civilians were killed Wednesday evening (February 5th) when the Iran-backed Houthis (Ansarallah) fired a ballistic missile on a residential neighbourhood in Marib, a Marib Hospital medic said.
Yemen's Information Minister Muammar al-Eryani condemned the attack on al-Rawda district in a statement carried by local media.
"We strongly condemn this heinous terrorist crime," he said, noting that four children and four women had been killed in the attack.
The death toll is likely to rise, he added, as some victims are still missing under the rubble.
"Marib and its people have been repeatedly attacked by Iranian-made ballistic missiles and drones," he said, noting that in addition to its own population, Marib is hosting more than two million Yemenis displaced by the Houthis.
Political analyst Faisal Ahmed pointed out that without Iran's support, the Houthis would not have had access to the advanced ballistic missiles they have used to kill civilians and target residential neighbourhoods.
Iran has supplied the militia with advanced weapons, including ballistic missiles and drones, he told Al-Mashareq.
A recent UN experts' report "has confirmed that the technical characteristics of weapons used by the Houthis are similar to weapons manufactured in Iran", he said.
"The technical and training support provided by Iranian and Hizbullah experts to the Houthis has enabled them to target residential neighbourhoods with these advanced weapons," he added.
"We condemn this criminal act," lawyer and human rights activist Abdul Rahman Berman told Al-Mashareq.
"International laws and human values do not sanction the use of ballistic missiles against residential neighbourhoods," he said.
More than three million people live in Marib, he added, noting that the missile attack had targeted civilians residing in a densely-populated area.
The Wednesday attack in Marib follows a January incident in the same neighbourhood, in which the Houthis fired a ballistic missile on the home of Yemeni MP Hussein al-Sawadi, killing two women and wounding four others.
