Saudi-backed forces are seeking to retake territory seized by the Iranian-backed Houthis group last month. Yemen’s civil war has intensified, with the internationally recognized government announcing a military operation aimed at retaking territory captured last month by the Houthis.

Saudi Arabia entered Yemen’s civil war militarily in 2015 in support of the internationally recognised government after Houthi forces had driven it from the capital, Sanaa, the previous year. Large-scale hostilities subsequently declined following a UN-brokered truce in 2022.

In a televised speech on Sunday, Rashad al-Alimi, the head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, said the government ordered “military operations to restore the remaining territory of the republic and extend state authority nationwide.”

The Houthis, a Shiite-Muslim armed group, continue their own offensive, reportedly seizing more towns in southwestern Taiz province near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Houthi-aligned media reported later on Sunday that the group captured the town of Turbah and the districts of Shamayatayn and Samea, as well as the Taiz-Aden road.

Fighting intensified again last month, with the Houthis accusing Saudi Arabia of maintaining an unlawful “siege” against Yemen. Houthi forces have since taken control of the strategically significant port of Mokha and Perim Island in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

The consquence of this war is that the Iran-supplied missiles fired by the Houthis at Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities on the Red Sea have caused a lot of damage and very little oil is exiting on tankers, either south through the Bab al Mandab Strait or north through Egypt.

Saudi Arabia supplies about 11% of the world’s total oil production.