LAHORE MIRROR (AFP) — Yemen’s government forces said Sunday they had struck Houthi targets around the country, deepening the conflict ravaging one of the world’s poorest nations and the wider region.
The armed forces launched strikes against the Houthis in the capital Sanaa, the northwestern governorate of Saada — one of the group’s strongholds — and Taiz in the southwest, military spokesman Colonel Majid al-Nuzaili said.
Yemen was plunged back into civil war in July after years of calm, pitting the Iran-backed Houthis, who control most of northwest Yemen including Sanaa.
The government, based in the city of Aden, controls much of the country’s south and east — a region that is larger but much less populated.
The strikes came hours after the Houthis claimed an attack on an oil facility near the Saudi capital, where an AFP journalist saw flames and smoke, and accused the Gulf kingdom of striking Sanaa dozens of times.
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 last month.
Houthi-affiliated channel Al-Masirah TV reported that “Saudi enemy aircraft” hit Sanaa with 26 strikes, after earlier reporting “Saudi aggression” against the Yemeni capital, without providing details on the targets or casualties.
Two correspondents in Sanaa reported hearing loud explosions and seeing warplanes firing missiles at the city.
In neighbouring Saudi Arabia, flames and smoke were seen rising on Saturday afternoon from an Aramco facility south of Riyadh, an AFP journalist said.
While the Saudi authorities are yet to comment, late on Saturday, the Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group had targeted an oil facility in Riyadh with ballistic missiles and drones, adding that they sparked fires at the targeted sites.
