Yemen's Al-Alimi announces military operations to retake Houthi-held territory

Right · 2Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, announced in a televised address on Sunday 4 October 2026 the start of military operations to retake the remaining territory held by the Houthis. 1 2 Centre · 1He instructed the armed forces, security forces and all military formations to carry out their assigned tasks under an approved plan until the country is liberated, and said state institutions would be on full alert until the mission is completed. 3 Right · 1Al-Alimi said the operations were not a war against people in Sanaa, Hodeidah and Saada or against any sect or tribe, urged residents to stay away from Houthi gathering places, and thanked Saudi Arabia as a "true partner". 2

Right · 1Regional and western officials had earlier told Reuters that Saudi Arabia and its Yemeni allies planned an assault, with the Saudis leading in the air and Yemeni forces on the ground. 1 Centre · 1France 24 reported that the Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV cited Saudi strikes in al-Jawf and Saada governorates wounding at least two people, and that the Yemeni government said a day earlier its forces had hit Houthi targets including in Sanaa. It added that experts believe such strikes were most likely carried out by Saudi rather than Yemeni aircraft. 4 Mixed · 2The announcement came as the Houthis held the initiative on the ground, weeks after seizing the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in an offensive down the Red Sea coast in which government forces collapsed. 1 4

Mixed · 2Security sources told AFP the Houthis had cut the main supply route to Taiz at al-Safiya and halted traffic on the Taiz–Aden road, effectively encircling the government-held city. Chatham House's Farea Al-Muslimi said they had "achieved the military objective of isolating Taiz from Aden". Reuters, citing military sources, described Houthi gains on hilltops near Taiz over 48 hours and said control of the road would amount to a siege of Yemen's third-largest city. 4 1 Mixed · 2Saudi Arabia intervened in 2015 to back the internationally recognised government after the Houthis took Sanaa; a 2022 truce largely held until this year, when Houthi attacks on Saudi shipping and oil infrastructure spilled over from the Iran war and fighting resumed in July. 1 3 Right · 1Bab el-Mandeb has gained importance as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, which the Iran conflict has effectively closed, and the World Food Programme said last week that three in four families in parts of Yemen are going hungry. 1