Houthi forces launched missile and drone attacks on Saudi Aramco facilities and severed a crucial supply line to Taiz on Sunday.
Yemen’s Houthi forces launched missile and drone strikes against Saudi oil facilities on Sunday and cut a key supply route to Taiz, expanding a blockade on Saudi energy exports that were already squeezed by Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group attacked Aramco sites in the capital, Riyadh, and the eastern Khurais area with ballistic missiles and drones. “Both operations successfully achieved their objectives,” the spokesman said in a statement. “The strikes were precise, causing large fires at the targeted sites.” Saudi Arabia didn’t immediately comment on Sunday’s claim, though it has previously dismissed similar claims as misleading and mocked the Houthis for “chasing imaginary victories”.
Saudi Arabia launched retaliatory strikes on Sunday that wounded at least two people, according to the Houthi-run Al-Masirah television channel. Yemen’s internationally recognised government said its forces also hit Houthi positions on Saturday across Sanaa, Saada, and areas near Taiz. The war, which began when the Houthis seized Sanaa in 2014 and drew a Saudi-led intervention the following year, reignited in July after several years of relative calm.
On the ground in Yemen, the frontline remains focused on Taiz, which is held by the internationally recognised government. The Houthis severed a vital road linking the city with the government’s interim capital of Aden on Sunday, AFP reported.
“They’ve achieved the military objective of isolating Taiz from Aden, even if they haven’t fully taken control of it,” Farea Al-Muslimi, a research fellow at the Chatham House think tank, told AFP. Three Yemeni military sources told the news agency that Houthi forces now control the area and the supply route, effectively encircling Taiz as they push to secure coastal areas and the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
