Jemen

The Security Council met to discuss the crisis in Yemen Friday, where a Houthi offensive launched in September has sharply escalated the 12-year-long war for control of the country and spillover from the US-Iran war has provoked a new displacement crisis.

As fighting intensifies across Yemen and attacks on civilian infrastructure threaten regional stability and vital Red Sea shipping routes, senior United Nations officials briefing the Security Council today called for an end to hostilities, unhindered humanitarian access and a return to negotiations. 

Intense fighting in Yemen has forced more than 184,000 people from their homes since the start of August, most of them since early September, the UN migration agency (IOM) said on Monday.

In the week to 3 October alone, the International Organisation for Migration recorded nearly 21,800 people who had been displaced at least once – a 26 per cent increase from the previous week. 

The head of Yemen's internationally recognised government has announced it will wage an all out war in an effort to take all territory held by the Houthis. It follows an exchange of strikes between the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition in recent days.

As hostilities worsen in Yemen, more people have been fleeing their homes, further intensifying the humanitarian crisis within the region, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned on Tuesday.

More than 112,000 people have been displaced in Yemen and close to 3,000 have fled the conflict to Djibouti, according to the United Nations, as fighting intensifies between the Iran-allied Houthis and Saudi-backed forces loyal to the internationally recognised government.

Yemen's Houthis have seized the strategic Red Sea port city of Mokha from Saudi-backed pro-government forces, military sources and witnesses say. … The strait is the southern gateway to a key shipping route that links Asia and Europe via the Red Sea and Suez canal.

At least 46,000 people have been displaced since renewed fighting last week between Houthi rebels and pro-government forces in southwestern Yemen, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported on Friday. 

During an emergency meeting on the sharp escalation of the conflict in Yemen, the Security Council today heard that the period of relative calm prevailing in the country over the last four years has ended; now, the international community must determine how to address this new, more dangerous phase of war.

Yemen is increasingly at risk of backsliding into full-scale conflict. On Monday, Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militia attacked another crude oil tanker in the Red Sea off the coast of Saudi Arabia. The attack followed earlier strikes on Saudi oil infrastructure and other ships in the nearby Bab el-Mandeb Strait.