Yemeni pro-government forces stall in push toward capital

In Yemen's Marib province, a key battleground in the fighting against Shiite rebels, frustration is growing in the ranks of troops backing the country's president-in-exile after more than a week without gains on the ground.
The pro-government forces' advance on the capital, Sanaa, has stalled as Iran-backed Houthi rebels put up heavy resistance and despite an airstrikes' campaign by a Saudi-led coalition that has relentlessly pounded rebel positions.
The difficulty highlights the stark challenges facing the diverse set of fighters that make up the pro-government forces as they set their goal on Sanaa, about 165 kilometers to the west of Marib.

Ground commanders from the Yemeni army complain of poor logistical coordination, along with slow communication and decision-making between the Marib front-lines and the military leadership in Riyadh.
Troops have grown nervous, commanders say, after two incidents when Saudi-led airstrikes hit and killed allied fighters.
In Yemen's war, the coalition against the Houthis is a shaky combination of local and tribal militias, southern separatists, Sunni Islamic militants and army units local to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

The ground forces are backed by a coalition of Gulf countries led by Saudi Arabia and supported by the United States that has been targeting the rebels with airstrikes since March.

The Houthis, in turn, are supported by military units loyal to the former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and alliance that enabled them to take over Sanaa a year ago, overrun much of the country and drive Hadi into self-imposed exile in Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi-led coalition has been training thousands of pro-government troops and working with some Yemeni tribesmen.
It has also brought in additional weapons, armor and trained personnel to the fight.
Initially, the pro-government troops' fast push north from the port city of Aden, where they routed the rebels earlier this summer, signaled success. But Marib appears tougher to take.

The strategic province, home to Yemen's oil fields, shares a border with Saudi Arabia and many local tribes have had decades-long alliances with the kingdom.
Thousands of Emirati and other coalition troops are on the ground, to help the pro-government forces.