Jemen

Alongside the battles over territory, the parties to Yemen’s war are embroiled in fights for control of key parts of the country’s economy. The latter struggle causes great civilian suffering. The new UN envoy should make it a central task to achieve an economic truce.

Air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Houthi group on the capital Sanaa killed at least 20 people overnight, including civilians, Houthi media and residents said, in one of its deadliest attacks since 2019.

Escalating conflict in Yemen has seen an alarming number of air and drone strikes already this year, notably against civilians and non-military targets, the UN rights office, OHCHR, said on Tuesday.

Seven years into the war in Yemen, UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg reaffirmed to the Security Council on Wednesday that no long-term solution can be found on the battlefield, urging the warring parties to “talk, even if they are not ready to put down their arms”.

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.