Yemeni Army Releases Footage of Strikes on Houthi Targets in Marib, Taiz

Yemen's armed forces have released video footage that they say shows their units striking Houthi targets in the country's west and southwest, as fighting tied to the rebels' latest advance continues.

The army media office said the clips show an artillery unit destroying combat vehicles belonging to the Houthis. Other segments, it said, show soldiers firing on Houthi positions and artillery targeting a vehicle carrying rebel fighters.

The footage was released over two days, with material from Taiz dated 17 September and further clips from West Marib dated 17 and 18 September. The locations, dates and conditions under which the videos were shot could not be independently verified.

The releases come a week after the Iran-backed Houthi rebels pushed down Yemen's Red Sea coast, extending their reach to a key maritime chokepoint and raising the risk to Saudi Arabia's oil exports.

The rebel advance is the group's largest land grab in years. It has reignited Yemen's 12-year civil war, pushed up global fuel prices and handed Iran an additional source of leverage at a time when the United States has begun to loosen Tehran's grip on the Strait of Hormuz, on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula.

The Houthis have also been firing at Saudi oil facilities and tankers. An attack on Saudi Arabia's east-west pipeline, blamed on Iran-backed militias in Iraq, has added to the pressure on the kingdom and unsettled world markets.

The fighting has forced some 125,000 Yemenis to flee their homes. The civil war has killed more than 150,000 people and has at times brought the country to the brink of famine.

The rebels now appear to be eyeing Yemen's oil-rich east. So far, the only forces standing in their way are Yemen's Saudi-backed government and an array of factions that have fought one another as recently as January.