Houthis claim missile and drone strikes on Aramco sites

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said on Sunday the group had fired ballistic missiles and drones at the sites of the Saudi energy company Aramco in Riyadh and in the Khurais area in the east, causing large fires. He presented the attacks as a response to what the Houthis claimed were 50 Saudi-led air and missile strikes in Yemen in the past 12 hours.

The Houthis have increasingly targeted Saudi Arabia in recent weeks, saying on Sunday they had attacked oil infrastructure in the Saudi capital again. Saudi oil exports were already under pressure from Iran's blockade of the strait of Hormuz in the Gulf. Al-Masirah TV, the Houthis' channel, reported Saudi strikes on Sunday in the northern governorates of al-Jawf and Saada, saying at least two people had been wounded.

• •Targets: Aramco sites in Riyadh and in the Khurais area in the east
• •Weapons: ballistic missiles and drones, said to have caused large fires
• •Claimed trigger: what the Houthis said were 50 Saudi-led air and missile strikes in Yemen within 12 hours
• •Status: no immediate confirmation from Saudi Arabia

Government announces drive to retake remaining territory

Rashad al-Alimi, the head of Yemen's presidential council, said in a statement on Sunday that the Saudi-backed government was starting a new military operation to retake all territory held by the Houthis:

Al-Alimi said the operation would extend the authority of the state and its institutions across the entire national territory. Yemen's internationally recognised government has struggled to roll back the Houthi surge, even with the military support of Saudi Arabia.

Taiz fighting kills more than 70 in a day

Sources on both sides said on Sunday that fighting in and around the western province of Taiz had killed more than 70 people over the past day. The toll each side reported for its own forces:

• •Government sources: 34 troops killed, 20 of them on the edge of Taiz province in neighbouring Lahj
• •Houthi military sources: 39 fighters killed in fighting across Taiz and in border areas with Lahj

According to four security sources, the government statement came just hours after the Houthis cut a vital supply route linking the besieged city of Taiz with the government's interim capital, Aden. An unnamed police source in the area said the group took control of the al-Safiya area, where it cut the main road and seized the police station. The Houthi advance followed days of heavy fighting in and around the city.

Three sources with the Yemeni military confirmed the group's hold on the al-Safiya area and the route, said traffic along the road had halted and that the Houthis were now surrounding Taiz city. Government forces still control the city, which has long been besieged from the north, east and west, and it remains one of the main fronts in Yemen's long-running civil war.

Fighting in the area was ongoing, with traffic on the severed route halted. Saudi Arabia had given no immediate confirmation of the Houthis' attack claims.