Hans Grundberg, the UN special envoy for Yemen, told the UN Security Council that military preparations, reinforcements and continuing threats along Yemen’s frontlines pointed to a risk of renewed full-scale war. The council had convened as the Houthis intensified their military activity and Yemen was drawn into the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
The warning follows the collapse of a fragile pause in a conflict that began in 2014, when the Iranian-backed Houthis seized northern territory and the capital, Sanaa. Saudi Arabia had begun airstrikes by early 2015.
A UN-brokered ceasefire began in April 2022. The truce held until July, when the Houthis resumed attacks on Saudi Arabia after a Saudi airstrike on Sanaa’s international airport.
After Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023 and war began in Gaza, the Houthis widened their campaign to Red Sea shipping routes and issued threats against Israel. They have attacked more than 80 merchant ships since the Gaza war began, seized 1 vessel, sunk 2 vessels and killed 4 sailors.
On 21 August, the Houthis attacked the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion, which was carrying about 1 million barrels of crude oil. Fires burned on the vessel for weeks, creating what Grundberg called “a threat of catastrophic oil spill and environmental disaster of unprecedented scale.”
The Houthis also seized the strategic island of Perim in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, according to Yemeni government sources.
Inside Yemen, Grundberg cited reports of clashes in a half dozen towns and cities. Houthi security forces stormed the UN human rights office in Sanaa on 3 August. The group has detained dozens of Yemenis working for the UN, civil society, national and international organisations, diplomatic missions and the private sector.
The health emergency is unfolding alongside the fighting. An initial estimate of 60,000 suspected cholera cases between April and September swelled to more than 147,000 at the beginning of August. Available funding can tackle only a quarter of the cholera cases.
The United States and United Kingdom have responded with strikes on military targets in Houthi-controlled areas.
Comments (0)