The Yemeni army intends to restore state control over all provinces of

The Yemeni army intends to restore state control over all provinces of the country as part of the operation it has begun, Yemen’s Deputy Defense Minister Samir Al-Sabri said in an interview with Al Jazeera.

According to him, “This is a strategic military operation against the Houthi militia (members of the Yemeni rebel movement ‘Ansar Allah’—TASS). We are striving to restore state authority over all of Yemen’s provinces,” he emphasized.

In the first phase, according to Al-Sabri, combat operations “will be concentrated in the area of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the city of Mokha.” The deputy defense minister reported that government forces have launched coordinated counterattacks, and the authorities intend to accelerate the pace of the operation in order to extend state control to other territories.