Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen's Saudi Arabia-backed Presidential Leadership Council, said in a televised address on Sunday that government forces would extend "the authority of the state and its institutions over the entire national territory".
"We have instructed the armed forces, security forces and all military formations to begin carrying out their assigned tasks under an approved plan until the country is liberated from the Houthis," he said, adding that all state institutions would remain on full alert "until the mission is completed and victory is achieved".
The announcement follows a major escalation in fighting. Colonel Majed Abdullah al-Nazili, spokesman for the internationally recognised government's forces, said troops had executed 257 "precision targeting operations" against Houthi sites, movements and military capabilities on Saturday, with initial estimates indicating at least 700 Houthi rebels were killed.
Turki al-Malik, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition supporting the government, said the Houthis' "ties to external agendas" had brought "chaos and devastation to Yemen". Early on Sunday, the coalition reported carrying out 97 "precise targeting operations" against Houthi reinforcements on the Tor al-Baha front and the Taiz axis, using warplanes, drones, artillery, missiles and snipers.
Later on Sunday, Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree claimed his group had fired ballistic missiles and drones at two Saudi Aramco sites, one in Riyadh and another near Khurais, about 150km north-east of the capital. Saudi Arabia did not immediately comment.
The fighting has intensified since a fragile 2022 truce collapsed in July, displacing hundreds of thousands of people. In mid-September, the Houthis seized the port city of Mocha and strategic islands in the Bab al-Mandeb strait, a vital route for global oil shipments, before anti-Houthi forces stabilised front lines.
Yemen has been at war since the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa in 2014, forcing the government to retreat to Aden.