Major assault on Houthis as Riyadh moot begins

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• Pakistan, Turkiye, S. Arabia to hold strategic political, defence talks today • Yemen’s govt says offensive intended to retake all areas recently captured by Houthis ISTANBUL: Yemen’s internationally-recognised Saudi-backed government on Sunday launched a major military campaign to recapture territory held by the Houthis, just a day before Riyadh hosts an emergency meeting of the Pakistan, Turkiye and Saudi Arabia leaders under the Makkah agreement. The announcement for the major military offensive, aimed at retaking all areas under Houthi control, came from the head of Yemen’s presidential council, Rashad al-Alimi. Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said earlier on Friday that a meeting of Makkah Def­ence Alliance’s Strategic Poli­tical Defence Committee (SPDC) would focus on the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia. Fighting between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthis showed no signs of abating over the weekend, with the Houthis saying the kingdom had launched dozens of strikes on Yemen’s capital Sanaa after which they attacked an Aramco facility with ballistic missiles and drones in south of Riyadh. The foes have traded strikes since the Houthis seized all of Yemen’s Red Sea coast and took control of the Bab al-Mandab strait in a lightning offensive. On Sunday, the Houthis also cut a vital supply route linking the besieged city of Taiz with the government’s interim capital Aden, according to four security sources. Just hours later, Yemen’s presidential council head said, “I announce today the start of military operations to retake the remaining territories of the republic and extend the authority of the state and its institutions across the entire national territory.” He called on all the armed forces to begin carrying out their assigned missions, in accordance with the approved plans, until the country is liberated from the grip of the Houthis. Sources from both sides told AFP on Sunday that fighting in and around Taiz province has killed more than 70 people over the past day. Sources from the internationally recognised government reported that 34 troops were killed — 20 on the edge of Taiz province in neighbouring Lahj — while Houthi military sources said 39 of their fighters were killed in fighting across Taiz and in border areas with Lahj. The Houthis, formally known as Ansar Allah, have controlled Yemen’s capital Sanaa and large parts of the northwest, where most of the population lives, since 2014. They have withstood a series of attacks over the years by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and their Western allies. The movement launched a surprise offensive last month which captured the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait and some 150km of coast on the Red Sea in a matter of weeks, giving the Houthis new leverage over the international shipping route. That advance also opened a new front in the US-Israeli war launched in February against Iran, to which Tehran’s responses included choking oil shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, to the other side of the Arabian Peninsula. Alimi said the decision to launch the counteroffensive came after all chances of de-escalating the conflict had been exhausted. He thanked Saudi Arabia for its support and called on Yemen’s regional allies and international partners to support the Yemen forces and institutions. Regional and western officials had told Reuters earlier this week that Saudi Arabia and its Yemeni allies were planning to launch an assault on the Houthis, with the Saudis leading aerial combat and Yemeni forces fighting on the ground. The US is already providing intelligence to support Riyadh’s operations in Yemen, while some regional and European nations are providing mainly defensive military aid to the kingdom, six people with knowledge of the Saudi preparations told Reuters. Meanwhile, the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Turkiye and Saudi Arabia would meet in Riyadh on Monday to discuss the developing situation. According to Mr Dar, this was an emergency meeting which would focus on the Houthi attacks in Saudi Arabia, as the previous meeting of foreign ministers in New York had done. The committee would meet again as planned after “the end of October or beginning of November”. “The meeting will address recent developments in the region and the stage reached in the Alliance’s institutionalisation efforts,” the Turkish foreign ministry said. It said Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defence Minister Yasar Guler and Chief of the General Staff Gen Selcuk Bayraktaroglu would attend the meeting of the pact’s strategic political and defence committee, along with officials from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2026

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