Yemen govt vows to retake Houthi areas

Yemen's leader announced on Sunday the start of a new military operation to retake all territory held by the Houthis, even as the group made fresh gains on the ground, effectively encircling a government-held city. The announcement sets an ambitious goal for the embattled government, which recently lost swathes of the country's Red Sea coastline and areas around the Bab al-Mandab Strait -- a chokepoint for international shipping -- after a lightning offensive by the Iran-backed Houthis. Yemen's government has struggled to roll back the surge, even with the military support of Saudi Arabia, where the Houthis said they had attacked oil infrastructure in the capital yet again on Sunday. "I announce today the start of military operations to retake the remaining territories of the republic and extend the authority of the state and its institutions across the entire national territory," Rashad al-Alimi, the head of Yemen's presidential council, said in a statement. Alimi called on all the armed forces "to begin carrying out their assigned missions, in accordance with the approved plans, until the country is liberated from the grip of the Houthi terrorist militia". The statement came just hours after the Houthis cut a vital supply route linking the besieged city of Taiz with the government's interim capital Aden, according to four security sources. The Houthi advance followed days of heavy fighting in and around the city. "We were informed that the Houthis had taken control of the al-Safiya area, where they cut the main road and took control of the police station," a police source in the area told AFP. Three sources with the Yemeni military also confirmed Houthi control over the area and the supply route, with traffic along the road halted and the group now surrounding Taiz city. The military sources added that fighting in the area was ongoing. Sources from both sides told AFP on Sunday that fighting in and around the western province of Taiz has killed more than 70 people over the past day. Sources from the internationally recognised government reported that 34 government troops were killed -- 20 on the edge of Taiz province in neighbouring Lahj -- while Houthi military sources said 39 of their fighters were killed in fighting across Taiz and in border areas with Lahj. Taiz city itself remains under the control of government forces but has long been besieged from the north, east and west by Houthi fighters and remains one of the main fronts in Yemen's long-running civil war.