Yemen's Government Declares All-Out War on Houthis as Fighting Escalates Across the Country

Yemen's internationally recognised government has declared it will launch a full-scale military campaign aimed at wresting control of all remaining territory from the Houthi movement, marking a dramatic escalation in a conflict that has already devastated the Arabian Peninsula's poorest nation for more than a decade.

President Rashad al-Alimi made the announcement in a televised address on Sunday, stating that military operations would begin immediately to restore state authority across the entire country. The declaration followed a sharp exchange of cross-border strikes between the Iran-backed Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition in the preceding days, raising fears of a renewed and potentially more destructive phase of the war.

In his address, delivered from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, al-Alimi said the time had come to extend the reach of state institutions over every part of Yemen. The Houthis have controlled the capital, Sanaa, for over ten years, and the government's stated goal of reclaiming all territory represents its most ambitious military objective since the conflict began.

The announcement was widely anticipated after a Houthi offensive last month that saw the group capture swathes of Yemen's coastline, including the strategically vital Bab al-Mandab Strait — a narrow waterway through which a substantial portion of global maritime trade passes. The loss of the strait, which separates the Red Sea from the Gulf of Aden, dealt a significant blow to the government and its regional allies and underscored the Houthis' growing capacity to project power beyond their traditional strongholds.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said on Sunday that the group had launched a ballistic missile and drone attack on facilities belonging to Saudi state oil giant Aramco, targeting sites in the capital, Riyadh, and the oil-rich Khurais area in the kingdom's east. He claimed the operations had achieved their objectives and caused large fires at the targeted locations. The group described the strikes as retaliation for what it characterised as fifty Saudi-led coalition attacks within a twelve-hour period.

Saudi Arabia has not yet commented on the claimed attack. On previous occasions when the Houthis asserted they had struck Saudi oil infrastructure, Riyadh dismissed some of the claims as misleading and accused the group of chasing imaginary victories. Nevertheless, the repeated targeting of Aramco sites highlights the significant economic risk Saudi Arabia — and by extension the global economy — would face if a new all-out war against the Houthis were to unfold.

In retaliation, Saudi Arabia has continued striking Houthi targets, according to the Houthi-run Al-Masirah television channel, which reported that at least two people were wounded in bombardments on Sunday. On Saturday, Yemen's government said its forces had also hit Houthi positions across the country, including in Sanaa, in the northern Saada region — the group's heartland — and near the south-western city of Taiz.

Despite the government's aggressive posture, security sources indicate that the Houthis have continued to make territorial gains. The frontline remains concentrated around Taiz, a key city still under the control of the internationally recognised government. On Sunday, the Houthis reportedly cut a critical supply route linking Taiz with Aden, the government's interim capital, according to the AFP news agency.

Citing three Yemeni military sources, AFP also reported that the Houthis now control the area surrounding that supply route, effectively encircling Taiz. Farea Al-Muslimi, a research fellow at the Chatham House think tank, told AFP that the Houthis had achieved their military objective of isolating Taiz from Aden, even if they had not yet fully captured the city. The development signals that the government's declaration of an all-out war may be a response to a deteriorating battlefield situation rather than a sign of imminent military success.

Al-Alimi was unlikely to have issued such a forceful statement without receiving approval from Saudi Arabia, which remains the principal backer of his government. Riyadh has been under sustained attack as the Houthis seek to target the kingdom's economic lifeline — its oil industry. The strikes on Aramco facilities serve as a reminder of the costs Saudi Arabia could incur should it commit to a prolonged and expansive war effort against the Houthis.

Yemen remains one of the poorest countries in the world and is still gripped by a vast humanitarian crisis. The conflict erupted in 2014 when the Houthis seized control of the capital from the internationally recognised government, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention the following year. Since then, the war has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions, and left much of the country's infrastructure in ruins.

The latest escalation threatens to deepen that suffering further. Aid organisations have long warned that Yemen's population is acutely vulnerable to disruptions in food imports and humanitarian access, and a renewed full-scale offensive could compound an already catastrophic situation. Any sustained campaign to retake Sanaa and other Houthi-held territories would likely involve intense urban combat and further strain already limited resources.

The coming days will be crucial in determining whether the government's declaration translates into a genuine nationwide offensive or serves primarily as a rhetorical response to recent setbacks. What is clear is that the conflict has entered a perilous new phase, with fighting spreading across multiple fronts, key waterways at stake, and the region's major powers drawn ever more deeply into a war that has already reshaped Yemen beyond recognition.