A senior Yemeni official says operations to push Saudi-backed forces out of Ta’izz will continue until the city is liberated, while threatening further attacks on Saudi oil facilities in response to Riyadh’s military aggression against the Arab country.

Hazam al-Asad, a member of Yemen’s Ansarullah political bureau, said in a post on X on Sunday that Ta’izz would be “liberated” and warned that Saudi Aramco facilities in Riyadh and Khurais would be set ablaze, as fighting intensifies around the strategic southwestern province.

His remarks came after Yemeni forces and allied local fighters cut the Ta’izz-Aden road at several points in the al-Turbah area and pushed Saudi-backed mercenary forces out of multiple locations.

The developments have disrupted the main supply route to forces backed by Saudi Arabia and completed the encirclement of central Ta’izz and the provincial capital.

The comments came amid a sharp escalation in the Yemen war. On Sunday, Yemen’s armed forces said they have carried out missile and drone attacks on Aramco facilities in Riyadh and the Khurais area in response to intensified Saudi attacks on Sana’a and other Yemeni provinces, adding that the strikes caused fires at the sites.

Yemeni armed forces strike Saudi Aramco oil facilities in Riyadh: Spokesman

Yemen’s armed forces say they launch a missile and drone attack on Saudi Aramco facilities in Riyadh.

The new cycle of hostilities began in July, after Saudi Arabia bombed Sana’a’s airport. The Yemeni armed forces responded by launching drone and ballistic-missile attacks on Saudi military bases, ports and airports, while also targeting oil tankers in the Red Sea.

The Sana’a administration also declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia on July 20, in response to “an unfair and tyrannical siege” on Yemen lasting nearly 12 years.

In March 2015, Saudi Arabia and its allies imposed a blockade on Yemen and launched a sweeping military offensive, backed by military, political, and logistical support from the United States and several Western countries.

The war has killed tens of thousands of Yemenis. However, Saudi Arabia has failed to achieve its stated objective of reinstating a puppet regime that serves its interests.