The ongoing tension in Yemen due to the tribes’ protest against the increase in the prices of oil derivatives has escalated into disputes between the tribes themselves. Observers fear that it will in turn escalate into an armed clash after some of them announced their insistence on continuing their protests by disrupting oil installations and facilities and interfering with the methods of transporting and distributing derivatives, while A second section announced the “waste of blood” of anyone exposed to these facilities.

Ma'rib, which is rich in oil and gas reserves, is part of the areas under internationally recognized Yemeni authority, but it is managed locally by the Yemeni Islah Party, the Muslim Brotherhood's arm in Yemen. Yemeni political circles fear that the Brotherhood will resort to turning tribes against each other to protect their authority in their most important stronghold in the country, after they lost their influence in many other regions. The local authority, led by the Muslim Brotherhood governor, Sultan Al-Arada, threatened to use force against the tribal elements violently protesting the increase in the prices of oil derivatives.

In solidarity with the authority, the Ubaida tribes and the Ma’rib al-Wadi tribes signed a document stipulating that the blood of any “saboteur or bandit who attacks oil and gas installations, or blocks the road” should be spared. The document bore the signature of the senior sheikhs of those tribes, who pledged to “stand by the state.” This came after the main roads linking Ma’rib to a number of governorates witnessed attacks on oil trucks, creating a fuel crisis in a number of regions of Yemen.