Jemen

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.

The conflict expanding across the Middle East has now arrived on Yemen’s shores, the senior United Nations official in the country told the Security Council today, warning that attacks by Houthi militants on critical waterways are imperiling global trade and threatening to pull Yemen into the “vortex” of the wider war. “Yemen today faces a more serious risk of return to large-scale conflict than at any point since the 2022 UN-mediated truce,” said Hans Grundberg, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, as he briefed the 15-member Council on recent developments.

The Houthis and Saudi Arabia have increased their military exchanges in the past month and the first test of the tripartite pact long in preparation may come in Yemen. On Thursday, one of the deadliest days in the conflict for years, the Houthis killed at least 58 Yemeni government troops in missile and drone attacks, according to a military source. A separate attack into southern Saudi Arabia, bordering Yemen, injured 11 civilians.

[…] Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei made similar remarks, expressing Tehran’s readiness to facilitate any talks between the two sides. Renewed conflict between the Houthis in Yemen and Saudi Arabia – which had largely been frozen since a UN-negotiated truce in 2022 – flared up this month when the rebels declared a blockade of Saudi ports and claiming attacks on tankers.

Yemen’s Houthis warned on Thursday they will target Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities and other infrastructure if conflict escalates between the two sides, days after the airport in the rebel-held capital Sanaa was struck.

Yemen's internationally-recognised government launched airstrikes on Sana’a International Airport on Monday to prevent an Iranian aircraft from landing, opening a new chapter in the country's long-running conflict and threatening to unravel years of fragile de-escalation.

Addressing the 15-member Council about the current situation on the ground, UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg said that while the 2022 truce between the Houthi rebels and the government continues to hold, the conflict is unresolved, with Yemenis bearing the cost of this uncertainty.