SANAA— Yemen's government forces said Sunday they had struck Houthi targets around the country, deepening the conflict ravaging one of the world's poorest nations and the wider region. The armed forces launched strikes against the Houthis in the capital Sanaa, the northwestern governorate of Saada -- one of the group's strongholds -- and Taiz in the southwest, military spokesman Colonel Majid al-Nuzaili said. Yemen was plunged back into civil war in July after years of calm, pitting the Iran-backed Houthis, who control most of northwest Yemen including Sanaa, against Yemen's internationally recognized Saudi-backed government. The government, based in the city of Aden, controls much of the country's south and east -- a region that is larger but much less populated. The strikes came hours after the Houthis claimed an attack on an oil facility near the Saudi capital, where an AFP journalist saw flames and smoke, and accused the Gulf kingdom of striking Sanaa dozens of times. The foes have traded strikes since the Houthis seized all of Yemen's Red Sea coast and took control of the Bab al-Ma