RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The Saudi-led military coalition announced on Monday its participation in the new Yemen government offensive targeting the Iran-backed Houthis, with 100 warplanes used in dawn strikes to provide air cover for ground forces.

 

"100 fighter jets participated at dawn today in Operation 'Dawn of Yemen'," coalition spokesman Major General Turki al-Maliki wrote on X, using the name for the new offensive announced on Sunday. "Round-the-clock air support for the Yemeni armed forces on the ground."

 

The head of Yemen's presidential council on Sunday announced the start of a new military operation to retake all territory held by Iran-backed Houthi fighters.

 

"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 said in a statement.

 

Alimi called on "the armed forces, security forces and all military formations 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.