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Yemeni President Rashad al-Alimi announces start of military operation for retaking Houthi controlled territory

Aden, Oct 4 (UNI) Yemeni President Rashad al-Alimi on Sunday announced the start of a major military operation aimed at retaking territory controlled by the Iran-backed Houthi militia.
"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," al-Alimi said in a televised address, escalating the nation's long-running civil war.
Regional and Western officials had previously reported that Saudi Arabia and its Yemeni allies were preparing an offensive, with Saudi forces expected to provide air support while Yemeni forces conduct ground operations.
The US is already providing intelligence to support Saudi operations, while some regional and European countries are supplying mainly defensive military assistance.
Al-Alimi said the decision followed the exhaustion of efforts to de-escalate the conflict, accusing the Houthis of responding to attempts to calm tensions with further mobilisation and escalation.
He said he had ordered the armed forces, security forces and other military formations to begin carrying out their assigned tasks under approved plans.
Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen's civil war in 2015 at the head of an Arab coalition supporting the internationally recognised government, which the Houthis had driven from the capital Sanaa.
A truce reached in 2022 largely held until this year, when the Houthis resumed missile and drone attacks on Saudi shipping and energy infrastructure amid the wider Iran conflict.
The announcement comes after a rapid Houthi advance along Yemen's western coast. The group recently seized the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the southern gateway to the Red Sea and a major shipping route linking the Mediterranean with Asia.
The waterway has taken on greater importance following the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz during the Iran conflict.
The Houthis have also continued to gain ground around Taiz. Military sources said the group had captured strategic hilltops near the city over the past 48 hours and was advancing towards the last road linking Taiz with Aden, where the Saudi-backed government is based.
Control of the route could leave Taiz, Yemen's third-largest city, effectively under siege. The latest escalation comes amid a consistently deteriorating humanitarian situation, with the World Food Programme saying three in four families in government-controlled areas accessible to it were facing food insecurity, while tens of thousands of people had been displaced and supplies disrupted by the renewed fighting.
The Houthis have also claimed recent missile and drone attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure.
On Saturday, the group said it had targeted an Aramco facility in Riyadh, although Saudi authorities had not immediately confirmed an attack on the site.
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