Yemen announces major military operations against Iran-backed Houthis

Yemen’s Saudi-backed government on Sunday announced the beginning of a major military operation against the Iran-backed Houthis, aimed at seizing the territory under their control.

“Today, I announce the start of military operations to retake the remaining territory of the republic and extend the authority of the state and its institutions across the entire national territory,” Yemeni President Rashad al-Alimi said in a televised address.

Al-Alimi said he had ordered the armed forces, security forces and all military formations to begin carrying out their assigned tasks under approved plans.

Al-Alimi said the decision to launch the counteroffensive came after all opportunities for de-escalation had been exhausted, accusing the Houthis of responding to efforts to calm the conflict with further mobilisation and escalation.

“Our position today is to assume the national responsibility of confronting the Houthi militia, after all opportunities for de-escalation have been exhausted,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Houthis, said they had launched ballistic missiles and drones at Saudi Aramco sites in Riyadh and the Khurais area of Saudi Arabia, claiming the attacks caused major fires, in response to what they said were 50 Saudi-led air and missile strikes on Yemen in the past 12 hours.

Saudi Arabia in 2015 entered neighbouring Yemen’s civil war at the head of an Arab coalition in support of the internationally recognised government, which the Houthis had driven out of the capital Sanaa.

Al-Alimi thanked Saudi Arabia for its support, saying the kingdom had “stood alongside Yemen in the darkest circumstances,” and called on Yemen’s regional allies and international partners to support the country, its armed forces and state institutions.

A truce agreed between the warring parties in 2022 largely held until this year, when the Houthis launched missile and drone attacks on Saudi shipping and oil infrastructure in a spillover from the Iran war.

The Houthis have so far maintained the initiative on the ground, weeks after seizing the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait in a lightning offensive down the coast that saw government forces collapse.

Bab el-Mandeb is the southern exit passage of the Red Sea, a key shipping route between the Mediterranean and Asia that has assumed even more importance this year as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively closed by the Iran conflict.

The Houthis already controlled the northwest of the country, where most of the population live.