Yemen launches an offensive to retake Houthi-held territory
The rebels say they struck two Aramco sites in response. The Saudi-led coalition denies it, and Riyadh has not confirmed any damage.
Yemen, a country on the southern Arabian Peninsula that borders Saudi Arabia, has begun an offensive against the Houthis. Rashad al-Alimi, who heads the country's Presidential Leadership Council, announced on television on Sunday, Oct. 4, military operations to "retake the remaining territory of the republic," according to NBC News. The Houthis are an Iran-backed rebel movement. Saudi Arabia provides air support and Yemeni forces fight on the ground.
The offensive follows weeks of rebel gains. Reuters, in a text published by ABC News Australia, reports that the group took the Bab el-Mandeb strait last month, along with about 150 km (93 miles) of Red Sea coast, and was tightening its grip on Taiz, Yemen's third-largest city, and its road to Aden. Al Jazeera instead mentions Mocha and the islands in the strait, so it is unclear what the rebels hold today.
The Houthis say they fired ballistic missiles and drones at two plants of Aramco, the Saudi state oil company, one in Riyadh and one in Khurais, and that fires broke out. Their military spokesman, Yahya Saree, described a "precise and direct" operation and presented it as a response to more than 50 coalition strikes, according to Al Jazeera. The coalition spokesman, Turki al-Maliki, called the claim "misleading." Saudi Arabia did not confirm any damage.
The figures come from the parties themselves. The Saudi-led coalition reported 97 "precision operations" on Sunday, and the Yemeni army says it carried out 257 on Saturday and killed about 700 Houthi fighters. None of this has been independently verified.
Bab el-Mandeb is the southern gateway of the Red Sea, where goods moving from Asia to the Mediterranean and Saudi oil pass. If Taiz is besieged, hundreds of thousands of civilians would be trapped. According to the World Food Programme, three in four families in parts of Yemen are going hungry because of the worsening fighting, NBC News reported.
Independent confirmation of any damage at Aramco is still pending. The 2022 truce collapsed in July of this year.
