TAIZ— Yemen’s military backed by Saudi jets attacked Houthi targets on Monday as they launched an ambitious campaign to recapture all territory from the Iran-backed group after its lightning gains during the Middle East war

The military said it carried out more than 1,000 strikes, while 100 warplanes attacked at dawn, according to the Saudi-led coalition that supports Yemen’s government.

Yemen’s government announced the lofty goal of retaking all Houthi territory — much of it held for more than a decade — on Sunday.

As the offensive began, a source in the Saudi energy sector told AFP that an attack on Sunday had again halted pumping in the East-West pipeline to the Red Sea, a key conduit since Iran blockaded the Strait of Hormuz.

The long-running conflict in Yemen, one of the world’s poorest countries and neighbour of Saudi Arabia, has flared anew months into the Middle East war that has sent crude prices soaring.

Saudi Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser warned on Monday that global oil stockpiles are “scarily thin” owing to the US-Iran war, days after G7 nations agreed to release more of their inventories to ease supply concerns.

“The system is already straining,” Nasser told the Energy Intelligence Forum in London. “And with precious little else the world can turn to, the supply resilience cushion is scarily thin.”

The Houthis have targeted Saudi oil infrastructure and tankers in the Red Sea since a ceasefire in Yemen’s civil war unravelled in July.