The Saudi Arabia-backed head of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, has announced the launch of military operations to retake territory held by the Iran-backed Houthi armed group and restore state authority across the country.
In a televised address on Sunday, al-Alimi said the internationally recognised government's forces would extend "the authority of the state and its institutions over the entire national territory."
"We have instructed the armed forces, security forces and all military formations to begin carrying out their assigned tasks under an approved plan until the country is liberated from the Houthis," he said.
Al-Alimi added that all state institutions would be placed on full alert "until the mission is completed and victory is achieved."
The announcement followed a major offensive on Saturday, in which Yemeni government forces carried out 257 precision targeting operations against Houthi sites, movements, and military capabilities, according to Colonel Majed Abdullah al-Nazili, spokesman for the internationally recognised government forces.
Al-Nazili said initial estimates indicate that the operations killed at least 700 Houthi fighters.
Also on Saturday, the Saudi-led coalition said its armed forces conducted 97 precision targeting operations against Houthi reinforcements on the Tor al-Baha front and the Taiz axis, deploying warplanes, drones, artillery, missiles, and snipers.
Coalition spokesman Turki al-Malik said the Houthis' "ties to external agendas" have brought "chaos and devastation to Yemen."
Fighting between Houthi forces and the Yemeni government has intensified since a fragile 2022 truce collapsed in July, displacing hundreds of thousands of people.
In mid-September, the Houthis seized the port city of Mocha and strategic islands in the Bab al-Mandeb strait, a vital route for global oil shipments, before anti-Houthi forces stabilised the front lines.
Yemen has been at war since the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014, forcing the internationally recognised government to retreat to Aden.
