Yemen launches major military operation as Houthis advance towards Taiz
Yemen's government has announced a major military operation against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels as the group advances on the outskirts of the key city of Taiz. Elsewhere in the region, an Israeli strike killed at least one person in Gaza amid Palestinian reports of a recent rise in such strikes across the enclave, while Iran's top diplomat said Tehran remains open to diplomacy.
Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen's ruling Presidential Leadership Council, made the announcement while speaking from Saudi Arabia. He said the operation was aimed at "recovering the remaining territories" controlled by the Houthis, who made their biggest land grab in recent years last month by seizing Yemen's Red Sea coast and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Al-Alimi also called on the international community to support his Saudi-backed government. In recent days, the Houthis have launched a major offensive against government forces and their allies on the outskirts of Taiz, disrupting a key road linking the city with Aden, the seat of al-Alimi's government. The rebels have besieged Taiz for more than a decade. Earlier, the Houthis said airstrikes hit the capital, Sanaa, overnight, without giving details. The Yemeni military, backed by Riyadh, said it carried out the strikes, claiming it hit "vital targets" in Sanaa and in the northern province of Saada, on the border with Saudi Arabia. The escalation between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis has revived Yemen's civil war after a four-year ceasefire.
The Houthis also claimed they had targeted Saudi oil facilities. Houthi military spokesperson Brig Gen Yahya Saree said in a prerecorded statement that the rebels fired missiles and drones at facilities of Saudi state-run Aramco in Riyadh and in the Kurais area, which hosts a major facility 150 kilometres southeast of the capital. He did not say when the attack took place, give further details or provide evidence to support the claim. A fire broke out at an Aramco oil refinery on Saturday, though no details were released on its cause.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran was still open to diplomacy, but warned that any renewed military confrontation would bring a stronger response. "If they seek diplomatic avenues, we remain ready to reach a fair and honourable solution through diplomacy to end this war," he said while addressing ambassadors and chargs d'affaires of foreign missions in Tehran. Araghchi also rejected a US claim that the Iranian delegation had been expelled from the United States days after the annual UN gathering of world leaders, where Iran had proposed a deal to Washington that was turned down. He said the delegation had returned according to a previously arranged schedule.
The latest developments in the Middle East have centred on Yemen's renewed fighting, the Houthis' claims of strikes on Saudi oil sites, an Israeli strike that killed at least one person in Gaza, and Iran's position that it remains ready for diplomacy.
