Jemen

About 200 fighters have been killed in fresh clashes near the strategic Yemeni city of Marib, military and medical sources said Tuesday, as the seven-year war witnesses a surge in violence.

The Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, said on Tuesday that a recent military escalation in the country is “among the worst” in years and increasingly putting civilians in crosshairs. 

Government forces and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels have been locked for months in a fierce battle for Marib, the government’s last stronghold and capital of the northern oil-rich province of the same name.

Saudi Arabia said early Tuesday it had launched overnight air raids against targets in Yemen in retaliation for a ballistic missile fired by Houthi rebels, destroying the launch site in Sanaa. … Iran-backed Houthi rebels control much of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, which they seized in 2014.

Dozens of rights and humanitarian groups on Thursday called on the United Nations to create a new independent panel to collect evidence of possible war crimes committed by all parties in Yemen's bitter conflict, after Saudi Arabia reportedly lobbied to shut down the previous investigation.

War-torn Yemen’s government said Sunday it is confident of holding the strategic city of Marib despite sustained attacks from Iran-backed Houthi rebels which killed thousands on both sides in recent months.

Nearly 15,000 Yemeni Houthi fighters have been killed near the strategic city of Marib since June, sources close to the rebels said Thursday, in a rare admission of their casualties during the seven-year war. … Marib city is the internationally-recognized government’s last major stronghold in Yemen’s oil-rich north.

The United Nations monitoring mission has urged Yemen’s warring parties to hold new talks over the Hodeidah as the Saudi-led coalition attacked areas south of the port city, where Houthi fighters advanced in the wake of withdrawing coalition forces. The call came on Monday, a day after the air raids began.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said Sunday its air strikes had killed more than 260 Houthi rebels in the past three days, but a rebel spokesman said the bombing campaign will not stop them. … The UN Security Council called on Wednesday for “de-escalation” in Yemen, in a unanimously adopted statement to counter the risk of “large-scale famine” in the country. The 15 council members demanded an immediate nationwide ceasefire, and sought an end to the Marib escalation.

Humanitarian assistance has been ramped up on Yemen's west coast where ongoing violence has increased the needs of communities displaced by years of conflict, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Wednesday.