Yemen’s president orders forces to retake all Houthi territory as Houthis claim missile strikes on Saudi Aramco

Note

On Sunday, October 4, Yemen’s internationally recognised president, Rashad al-Alimi, chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council, used a televised address to declare an offensive against what is left of Houthi-held Yemen. “I announce today the commencement of military operations,” the official English text on his presidency’s website reads. The aim, he said, is to restore the remaining territory of the Republic and extend state authority across the entire national territory. He ordered the armed forces, security services and all military formations to carry out their missions under approved plans “until the country is liberated from the grip of the terrorist militia.” He said all chances to de-escalate were exhausted, and that the move follows the general mobilization he declared earlier. He told people living in Houthi areas to stay away from military sites and supply routes, kept an amnesty offer open to fighters who lay down their weapons, and told his own troops: “No revenge, no retaliation.”

At about 1650 UTC the same day (12:50 PM Eastern), the UK Maritime Trade Operations centre (UKMTO) said a tanker’s company security officer reported multiple explosions in close proximity to the vessel about 60 nautical miles south of Mokha. The crew were safe and no environmental impact was reported. UKMTO did not name the ship or say what caused the blasts, and told vessels to proceed with caution.

As the announcement landed, the Houthis said they had fired ballistic missiles and drones at Saudi Aramco sites in Riyadh and the Khurais area and claimed major fires, calling it a response to 50 Saudi-led air and missile strikes in 12 hours (Reuters, via CNBC and Defense News). Saudi Arabia had not confirmed any damage in reports available by early Monday. A day earlier, the Saudi-led coalition’s spokesman Turki al-Maliki called Houthi claims of hitting Riyadh “misleading,” while a plume of smoke was seen near an Aramco facility in the capital (Al Jazeera). Early Sunday the coalition said it ran 97 targeting operations on the Tor al-Baha front and the Taiz axis, and a Yemeni government military spokesman said they hit at least 260 Houthi fighters and 44 vehicles (Al Jazeera). Those battlefield figures are the parties’ own and are not independently verified. Reuters, citing military sources, reports the Houthis have advanced on the last road between Taiz and Aden, and that the US is providing intelligence to support Saudi operations.

This is a declared, nationwide offensive by a UN-recognised government, launched while the Houthis hold the Bab el-Mandeb and some 150 km of Red Sea coast (Reuters), and while shipping through the Strait of Hormuz stays choked by the Iran war. The tanker blasts off Mokha came hours after the declaration. Red Sea shipping, Saudi oil sites and Yemen’s hunger emergency, where WFP says 74% of reachable households cannot meet basic food needs, are now tied to how this campaign goes.

What is confirmed and what is not: the Aramco strikes are Houthi claims that Saudi Arabia has not confirmed, UKMTO named no attacker for the tanker blasts, and the battlefield figures come from the warring parties.