The Yemeni government announces a military operation against the Houthis and targets Saudi Aramco

The Saudi-backed Yemeni government announced the start of a major military operation against the Iranian-backed Ansar Allah Houthi group, on Sunday, with the aim of regaining control of the area under the group’s control.

In a televised speech, the head of the Yemeni Leadership Council, Rashad Al-Alimi, said: “Based on the decisions of the National Defense Council, today we announce the start of military operations to restore the remainder of the republic’s lands, and extend the authority of the state and its institutions over the entire national territory.”

Al-Alimi added: "I call on the armed forces, security forces and all military formations to begin implementing the tasks assigned to them, in accordance with the announced plans, until the country is liberated from the grip of the terrorist Houthi militia," according to his words.

The announcement is the latest major escalation in the war against the Houthis, since the lightning attack launched by the group last month, during which it took control of large areas of the Red Sea coast.

Meanwhile, the Houthis announced that they had launched ballistic missiles and drones against sites belonging to Saudi Aramco in Riyadh and Khurais, noting that the attacks caused major fires, and that they came in response to what they said were 50 air and missile attacks launched by the Saudi-led coalition over the past 12 hours.

The military spokesman for the Houthis, Yahya Saree, said that the group carried out "two qualitative military operations" with a number of ballistic missiles and drones against sites belonging to Saudi Aramco in the capital, Riyadh, and the oil-rich Khurais region in the east of the kingdom.

The spokesman confirmed that the two operations successfully achieved their goals and caused large fires in the targeted locations.

Last week, the Ansar Allah group announced targeting Aramco facilities in Yanbu with missiles and drones. Saudi Arabia said at the time that it intercepted six ballistic missiles launched by the group towards Taif and the Yanbu region, without announcing any damage to the company’s facilities.

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The Houthis cut a vital supply road linking the main city of Taiz in southwestern Yemen and the city of Aden, where the internationally recognized government is based, according to what Agence France-Presse reported from security sources and eyewitnesses on Sunday.

Government military sources and eyewitnesses said, "The Houthis were able to cut off the Taiz-Aden road and impose a siege on Taiz after days of fighting."

The sources confirmed that the Houthis were able to "reach the Al-Samsarah and Al-Safiya line, cut off the road and stop movement."

While eyewitnesses spoke of "strong battles" on this main line that connects the city of Taiz to the cities of Lahj and Aden.

Likewise, a Taiz police source stated that “we were informed that the Al-Safiya area had fallen into the hands of the Houthis, that the main road had been cut off, and that they had taken control of the police station” in the area.

Taiz is still under the control of government forces, but it is subject to the Houthi siege from the north, east and west, remaining one of the main fronts in Yemen's extended war.

Researcher Farea Al-Muslimi, a fellow at Chatham House, said that the Houthis “achieved the military goal of isolating Taiz from Aden, even if they did not tighten their grip on it.”

Al-Muslimi does not expect much from the military operation that the Yemeni government announced the start of on Sunday.

This comes after the Yemeni Armed Forces said early on Sunday that they had carried out strikes against the Iran-aligned Houthis in the capital, Sanaa, and the group’s stronghold in Saada.

The spokesman for the recognized government forces, Majed Al-Nuzaili, announced the implementation of 97 operations, which he described as precise, against targets of the Ansar Allah Houthi movement on the Tur Al-Baha front in Lahj and the Taiz axis, which resulted in the “neutralization” of 260 Houthi elements and the damage of dozens of vehicles and means of transportation belonging to the movement.

The operations also targeted targets that the spokesman described, in a statement on Sunday, as vital and legitimate affiliated with the movement in the capital, Sanaa, and Saada Governorate in northern Yemen, vowing to continue such operations against the capabilities of the Houthis “wherever they exist.”

A military source affiliated with the government forces told local media that the forces, supported by what he described as popular resistance, were able to regain control over residential and mountainous areas in the Al-Shamaytain District, south of Taiz Governorate, located on the Red Sea coast in western Yemen, noting that the Houthis suffered significant human and material losses in those confrontations.

For its part, the Houthi group condemned what it said was an attack launched by the Saudi-led coalition that targeted a sponge factory in the Shamlan area, west of the capital, Sanaa, on Sunday, wounding three people and causing widespread destruction to the factory.

Officials of the Houthi Transport and Public Works Authority also condemned the closure of 14 vital land roads and paths in Taiz, led by the “Qasr Tour Port” and the roads linking neighboring districts and governorates, according to a statement reported by Houthi media on Sunday.