Yemen’s Saudi-backed government launches military drive to retake all Houthi-held territory

Yemen’s Saudi-backed government has announced the start of a new military operation to retake all territory held by the Houthis, even as the militant group made fresh gains on the ground, reportedly encircling a government-held city.

Rashad al-Alimi, the head of Yemen’s presidential council, said in a statement on Sunday: “I announce today the start of military operations to retake the remaining territories of the republic and extend the authority of the state and its institutions across the entire national territory.”

The announcement sets an ambitious goal for the embattled government, which recently lost swathes of the country’s Red Sea coastline and areas around the Bab al-Mandab strait – a chokepoint for international shipping – after a lightning offensive by the Iran-backed Houthis.

Yemen’s internationally recognised government has struggled to roll back the surge, even with the military support of Saudi Arabia. The Houthis have increasingly targeted Saudi Arabia in recent weeks, and on Sunday said they had attacked oil infrastructure in the capital again.

The statement came just hours after the Houthis cut a vital supply route linking the besieged city of Taiz with the government’s interim capital, Aden, according to four security sources.

The Houthi advance followed days of heavy fighting in and around the city.

“We were informed that the Houthis had taken control of the al-Safiya area, where they cut the main road and took control of the police station,” a police source in the area said.

Three sources with the Yemeni military also confirmed Houthi control over the area and the supply route, with traffic along the road halted and the group now surrounding Taiz city. Fighting in the area was ongoing, they added.

Sources from both sides told AFP on Sunday that fighting in and around the western province of Taiz had killed more than 70 people over the past day.

Sources from the internationally recognised government reported that 34 government troops were killed – 20 on the edge of Taiz province in neighbouring Lahj – while Houthi military sources said 39 of their fighters were killed in fighting across Taiz and in border areas with Lahj.

Taiz city itself remains under the control of government forces but has long been besieged from the north, east and west by Houthi fighters and remains one of the main fronts in Yemen’s long-running civil war.

A Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said on Sunday the group launched ballistic missiles and drones at Saudi energy company Aramco’s sites in Riyadh and in Khurais area in the east, causing large fires.

The attacks were in response to what the Houthis claimed were 50 Saudi-led ‌air and missile strikes in Yemen in the past 12 hours.

There was no immediate confirmation from Saudi Arabia.

Saudi oil exports were already under pressure due to Iran’s blockade of the strait of Hormuz in the Gulf.

The Houthi’s Al-Masirah TV channel reported Saudi strikes on Sunday in the northern governorates of al-Jawf and Saada, saying at least two people had been wounded.