Saudi Arabia launches fresh airstrikes on Yemen
Saudi Arabia reportedly launched airstrikes on Yemen on Sunday, wounding at least two people in the northern governorates of al-Jawf and Saada as the conflict between the two sites intensifies.
Yemen’s resistance forces also confirmed attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities on Sunday.
Ansarullah’s military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group launched a ballistic missile and drone attack on Saudi energy giant Aramco’s sites in capital Riyadh and the oil-rich Khurais area in the kingdom’s east.
“Both operations successfully achieved their objectives,” the spokesman said in a statement posted on X. “The strikes were precise, causing large fires at the targeted sites.”
Aramco remains the flagship company of the Saudi economy and one of the largest firms in the world by market capitalization.
Yemen’s Saudi-backed forces also announced new operation on Sunday to retake all territory held by resistance forces, even as the resistance group made fresh gains on the ground.
The announcement sets an ambitious goal for the embattled government, which recently lost large 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 resistance forces.
“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,” Rashad al-Alimi, the head of Yemen’s presidential council, said in a statement.
Alimi called on all the armed forces “to begin carrying out their assigned missions, in accordance with the approved plans".
The statement came just hours after the Houthis cut a vital supply route linking the besieged city of Taiz with Aden, according to four security sources.
The Ansarullah’s advance followed days of heavy fighting in and around the city.
After several years of calm, Yemen was plunged back into war in July, pitting Ansarullah, who control most of northwest Yemen including Sana’a, against Yemen’s Saudi-backed forces.
The Saudi-backed forces, based in the city of Aden, controls much of the country’s south and east – a region that is larger but less populated.