Yemen's internationally recognized government says it has launched a major military operation against Iran-backed Houthi rebels Yemen's internationally recognized government has announced a major military operation against the Iran -backed Houthi rebels as they advance in the outskirts of a key city. Meanwhile, the Iranian parliament speaker who was the lead negotiator in direct talks with the U.S. earlier this year says Washington recently put forward proposals via a mediator, without details. And Israeli strikes have killed at least two people in Gaza.
Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Sunday. Full coverage is available here. Rashad al-Alimi, head of the ruling Presidential Leadership Council, made the declaration as the Iran-backed rebels advanced in the outskirts of a key southwestern city, Taiz.
Speaking from Saudi Arabia, he said the operation aims at “recovering the remaining territories” controlled by the Houthis, who made their largest land grab in recent years last month when they seized Yemen’s Red Sea coast and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Al-Alimi called for the international community to provide support to his Saudi-backed government. The Houthis have launched a major offensive in recent days against government forces and their allies on the outskirts of Taiz, disrupting a major road linking the city to the port city of Aden, the seat of al-Alimi’s government.
The rebels have besieged Taiz for more than a decade. Earlier, the Houthis said airstrikes hit the capital, Sanaa, overnight, without giving details. The Yemeni military, backed by Riyadh, claimed responsibility, saying it struck “vital targets” in Sanaa as well as the northern province of Saada on the border with Saudi Arabia.
The escalation between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis has revived Yemen’s civil war after a four-year ceasefire. The United States recently put forward proposals through a mediator, Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, told an open session of Parliament, without details. President Donald Trump last week said he rejected Iran’s latest peace offer because it’s not good enough.
Qalibaf, the lead negotiator in rare direct talks with the U.S. earlier this year, said Americans “say something different in the media.” Qalibaf said “the era of dragging out time and dictating unilateral demands is over” and that Iran's seven conditions for fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz remain. Separately, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told ambassadors and chargés d’affaires of foreign missions in Tehran that “if they seek diplomatic avenues, we remain ready to reach a fair and honorable solution through diplomacy to end this war." But he warned that any renewed military confrontation would bring a stronger response. Araghchi also rejected a U.S. claim that the Iranian delegation had been expelled from the U.S. days after the annual U.N. gathering of world leaders, where Iran proposed a deal to the U.S. that was turned down.
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