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UN warns of renewed war
Yemen faces its most serious threat of a return to large-scale war since a U.N.-brokered truce in 2022, UN envoy Hans Grundberg warned on Thursday as fighting intensifies between Iran-aligned Houthis and Yemen’s internationally-recognised, Saudi-backed government.
“Yemen faces its most serious threat of a return to large-scale war since a U.N.-brokered truce in 2022”
Grundberg told the Security Council that military activity had intensified along Yemen’s frontlines, with recent Houthi attacks in the regions of Marib, Hadramawt, Mocha and elsewhere causing military and civilian casualties.
The escalation also comes as renewed Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden risk drawing Yemen further into wider regional confrontation, Reuters reported.
UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher told the council that more than half the population was experiencing acute food insecurity, while 6 million people were at “Emergency” levels of food deprivation bordering on famine.
Reuters said the Houthis announced a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia on July 20 and a Saudi-led coalition responded with air strikes on what it said were Houthi military facilities in the port city of Hodeidah linked to threats against commercial shipping.
Houthis, PLC trade demands
In response to the escalation, Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council chairman Rashad Al-Alimi urged the Iran-backed Houthis to lay down their arms and become a political party, saying the internationally recognised government seeks permanent peace rather than another temporary truce.
Speaking to a gathering of editors from local media outlets, Al-Alimi said, “The opportunity is still available to lay down arms, engage in political life, and compete through the ballot box on an equal footing with all other Yemenis,” and he described his appeal as a “final message” to the Houthis.
Al-Alimi rejected another extension of the UN-brokered truce that took effect in April 2022, saying the government would instead pursue a permanent settlement that restores state authority and places all weapons under its control.
The Associated Press reported that clashes between Iran-backed Houthis and government forces in Yemen raged overnight and into Thursday, with at least one government soldier killed and another critically wounded in the mountainous province of Taiz.
The AP also said the Houthis launched another drone attack on an Aramco oil refinery in Saudi Arabia, while Saudi officials did not immediately comment on the reported attack in the city of Jazan.
Detainees, food, and shipping
As the Security Council debate focused on Yemen’s widening crisis, Grundberg and Tom Fletcher called for the Houthis to release 73 UN personnel being held by the group, along with workers from non-governmental organizations, civil society and diplomatic missions.
“Grundberg and Fletcher called for the Houthis to release 73 UN personnel being held by the group”
Reuters added that Grundberg said preparations to free more than 1,600 conflict-related detainees agreed in May were moving slowly and could be derailed by the wider escalation.
The Jerusalem Post reported Grundberg warned that renewed Houthi attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden could pull Yemen deeper into regional conflict, and he urged the parties to immediately deescalate and pursue a lasting ceasefire.
The Jerusalem Post also said Grundberg and Fletcher called for the release of 73 UN personnel and warned that preparations for the release of more than 1,600 detainees risked being disrupted by the broader escalation.
In parallel, UN News said the Houthis struck a commercial ship on 11 August, killing six people and injuring others in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, underscoring the threat to the 2022 truce.
