SANAA, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) — Yemen’s Houthi group said Sunday that Saudi Arabia had launched 106 air and missile strikes across Houthi-held areas over the past 24 hours, as the internationally recognized government announced a new military campaign to retake territory from the group amid a widening escalation in the country.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said on social media platform X that the Saudi attacks hit the capital Sanaa and provinces including Al-Jawf and Taiz.
Sarea said the latest attacks brought the number of Saudi air and missile strikes since the current escalation began to 1,516.
The figures could not be independently verified, and Saudi Arabia has not confirmed carrying out the strikes reported by the Houthis.
The Houthi statement came hours after Yemen’s government announced the start of what it called the “battle of liberation,” marking a new phase in its campaign to retake Houthi-held territory.
The developments came as Yemen’s conflict entered one of its sharpest escalations in years, with heavy fighting spreading across southwestern Yemen and renewed missile, drone and air attacks reviving direct hostilities between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia.
Yemen’s conflict began in late 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in March 2015 in support of the internationally recognized Yemeni government. ■