Yemen, Saudi Arabia strike Houthis as counteroffensive gets underway

Yemen's military backed by Saudi jets attacked Houthi targets including in the capital on Monday as they launched an ambitious counteroffensive to recapture all territory held by the group following its recent lightning gains.

The Yemeni military said it carried out more than 1,000 strikes and began an offensive against the Houthi-held capital, Sanaa, while the Saudi-led coalition supporting the internationally recognised government said 100 warplanes flew sorties at dawn.

The government announced the lofty goal of retaking all Houthi territory -- home to most of Yemen's population, and much of it held for more than a decade -- on Sunday.

Last month the Iran-backed group seized swathes of coastline along the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait, a chokepoint for oil and cargo shipping, in Yemen's deadliest fighting in years.

The Houthis have also been attacking neighbouring Saudi Arabia since Yemen's civil war flared back to life, and have declared a maritime blockade on its ships.

A source in the Saudi energy sector told AFP that an attack Sunday had again halted pumping by the East-West pipeline to the Red Sea, a key conduit for the kingdom's exports since Iran blockaded the Strait of Hormuz at the start of the wider Middle East war.

Later on Monday, the Houthis' agency that liaises with airlines warned that Saudi airspace was not safe for civilian flights as it "will be the theatre of operations of our armed forces", but it carved out exceptions for the skies over the holy cities of Makkah and Medina.

Crude prices had already been soaring as a result of the Middle East war, before the Houthis began targeting the tankers and infrastructure of the world's largest oil exporter.

Saudi Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser warned on Monday that global oil stockpiles were "scarily thin" owing to the US-Iran war, days after G7 nations agreed to release more of their inventories to ease supply concerns.

"The system is already straining," Nasser told the Energy Intelligence Forum in London.

'Stay and die'

The Houthis have accused the Saudi-led coalition of carrying out hundreds of strikes since the renewed fighting began.

On Sunday, Yemen's military spokesman announced over 1,000 strikes against targets including artillery and rocket launcher positions, combat reinforcements and supply lines.

Coalition spokesman Major General Turki al-Maliki said 100 jets flew at daybreak as part of an operation dubbed "Dawn of Yemen", providing "round-the-clock air support for the Yemeni armed forces on the ground".

Yemen's military also announced a "strategic offensive" against Sanaa, which has been in Houthi hands since 2014.

The Houthis' official Saba news agency said a girl and a woman were killed in Sanaa governorate on Sunday.

The strikes have yet to blunt ongoing Houthi advances on the ground, however.

On Sunday, the group effectively encircled the city of Taiz after cutting the main supply route linking it to the interim government capital of Aden.

Taiz residents remained defiant, vowing to stay and defend their city.

"We cannot leave the city. It is impossible for us to leave. We will stay and die inside this city," Fahmi Ahmed Ghaleb told AFP.

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Taiz city remains under the control of government forces but has long been besieged from the north, east and west by Houthi fighters.

The Houthis' surrounding of Taiz "is a significant development, but I think it is still too early to say that we are witnessing a decisive turning point", Ahmed Nagi, a senior analyst for Yemen at the International Crisis Group, told AFP.

While the war in Yemen predates the broader Middle East war that began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, it has become its most active front in recent weeks.

The Houthis launched a rapid offensive around the Red Sea coast in September that killed hundreds of combatants on both sides. According to UN figures, the fighting has displaced more than 184,000 people.

The Houthis took control of Sanaa in September 2014, forcing out the government and prompting Saudi intervention the following March at the head of an international coalition.

The ensuing civil war caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and a spiralling humanitarian crisis that left a majority of the population relying on aid.