Yemen strikes against Houthis passed 1,000 within hours of Monday's announcement, the military said, opening a broad campaign meant to retake territory lost to the Iran-backed group even as the Houthis made fresh gains on the ground.

What the first 1,000 strikes hit

The tally came hours after Monday's announcement of a broad set of strikes against Iran-backed Houthi targets.

A military spokesman said its forces had launched more than 1,000 strikes, and set out what they hit:

• •artillery and rocket launcher positions
• •defensive fortifications
• •approach and reinforcement routes
• •supply lines and logistics assets
• •combat reinforcements

The Houthis are at war against Yemen's internationally recognised government, and the declared goal - retaking all lost territory - sets an ambitious target for the beleaguered Saudi-backed administration.

Advances the strikes have not stopped

The government strikes have yet to blunt the Houthis' advances on the ground. On Sunday the group cut the main supply route linking the city of Taiz to Aden, the interim government capital, effectively encircling it. Taiz is still held by government forces, but it has long been besieged from the north, east and west, and the city remains one of the main fronts in Yemen's long-running civil war.

Analyst cautions against calling a turning point

Ahmed Nagi, a senior Yemen analyst at the International Crisis Group, called the strike campaign a significant development but cautioned against reading it as a decisive shift.

The coastline the campaign aims to retake

The government entered this fight from a position of loss: about a month before the strike announcement it lost swathes of Yemen's Red Sea coastline and territory around the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a key chokepoint for international shipping.

The group has also taken its campaign beyond Yemen's borders, and the United Nations has tallied the September offensive's human cost:

• •The Houthis have regularly claimed attacks on Saudi territory in recent weeks and declared a blockade of Saudi ships in the Red Sea.
• •The offensive has killed hundreds of combatants on both sides, according to UN figures.
• •UN figures show more than 145,000 people forced to flee their homes.

The declared goal stands: retake all the territory the government lost. More than 1,000 strikes in, the Houthis' advances on the ground have not stopped, and the assessment is that it is too early to call a decisive turning point.