Yemen’s Saudi-backed, internationally recognized government announced Sunday it is launching a major military campaign to recapture all areas of the country controlled by the Iran-backed Houthis. President Rashad al-Alimi said in a televised address that the armed forces would press the offensive “until the country is liberated from the grip of the terrorist militia,” and a military spokesman later called on the Houthis to lay down their weapons.
The Houthis, formally known as Ansar Allah, have held Yemen’s capital Sanaa and vast parts of the northwest since 2014. They launched a surprise offensive last month that captured the strategic Bab el-Mandeb strait and about 90 miles of Red Sea coast in a matter of weeks, giving them new leverage over the international shipping route.
As the government made its announcement, the Houthis said they had launched ballistic missiles and drones at Saudi Aramco sites in Riyadh and the Khurais area of Saudi Arabia. They claimed the attacks caused major fires and were in response to what they said were 50 Saudi-led air and missile strikes in Yemen in the past 12 hours. There was no immediate confirmation from Saudi Arabia.
Alimi said the decision to launch the counteroffensive came after all chances of de-escalating the conflict had been exhausted. He thanked Saudi Arabia for its support and called on Yemen’s regional allies and international partners to support the Presidential Leadership Council’s forces and institutions.
Regional and Western officials told Reuters earlier this week that Saudi Arabia and its Yemeni allies were planning to launch an assault, with the Saudis leading aerial combat and Yemeni forces fighting on the ground. The U.S. is already providing intelligence to support Riyadh’s operations in Yemen, while some regional and European nations are providing mainly defensive military aid to the kingdom, six people with knowledge of the Saudi preparations told Reuters.
In the last 48 hours, the Houthis have also made gains against government and local forces on strategic hilltops near Yemen’s Taiz, military sources said, advancing on the last road between the city and Aden on the southern coast. Houthi control over the Taiz-Aden road would lead to an effective siege of the city, Yemen’s third-largest, inhabited by hundreds of thousands of civilians and where thousands of government forces are also stationed.
The World Food Programme said last week that three in four families in parts of Yemen are going hungry from the impact of the surge in fighting, which has displaced tens of thousands of people and disrupted supplies to millions.
Sources: Defense News · Stars and Stripes