Yemen
UN Warns Yemen Truce Is Close to Collapse
Yemen is closer to full-scale war than at any point since its 2022 truce, the United Nations has warned, as Houthi forces pair territorial pressure on land with disruption of Red Sea shipping in what analysts describe as a coordinated campaign rather than scattered escalation. UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg told the Security Council on August 13 that recent fighting poses the most serious threat to the truce since it was struck four years ago, warning a return to large-scale conflict would come at an "unforgiving moment," according to UN Press. UN human rights chief Volker Türk echoed the warning days later, urging all sides to de-escalate immediately, Euronews reported. The pattern began July 20, when the Houthis announced a blockade against Saudi shipping, followed by a strike on oil infrastructure feeding a Red Sea export hub. Riyadh responded with a 14-country maritime coalition and a defense pact with Turkey…
Yemen Edges Toward Renewed War
UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg warned the Security Council on August 13 that Yemen faces its most serious risk of returning to large-scale conflict since the 2022 truce, citing intensified military activity along frontlines and recent Houthi attacks in Ma'rib, Hadramawt and Mocha, according to Reuters. He also warned that renewed Houthi attacks on Red Sea and Gulf of Aden shipping risk pulling Yemen further into the regional confrontation already straining the Strait of Hormuz. The Houthi-run Saba news agency said on August 13 that the group had launched two drones at a Saudi Aramco refinery in Jazan, the second such strike in less than a week, according to Bloomberg. A Houthi military source called it retaliation for alleged Saudi airspace violations over Saada and Hajjah. Saudi authorities had not confirmed the strike at the time of reporting. UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher told the council that more than half…
Yemen Situation Report: A Frozen War Heats Up Again
Yemen is again moving toward a more dangerous phase of its decade-long war. The UN-brokered truce in 2022 sharply reduced large-scale hostilities but never produced a political settlement, leaving the country's core military and political divisions intact. During the years of relative calm, Ansar Allah, the formal name of the Houthi movement, consolidated its administration across northern Yemen while maintaining and expanding missile, drone and maritime-strike capabilities that are now being employed again as regional tensions rise. Reuters reported in July that forces on both sides were mobilizing and reinforcing several front lines as the Saudi-Houthi truce broke down. The latest escalation unfolded in two waves of missile and drone attacks on the government-held Red Sea port city of Mocha, known locally as al-Makha, within less than 24 hours. An earlier barrage killed at least 11 people, including eight military personnel and three civilians, according to an AFP toll reported…
Houthi Attacks Raise Red Sea Escalation Risk
Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi movement escalated attacks on Saudi Arabia and Saudi-backed Yemeni forces this week, its most damaging offensive since a 2022 truce. A Houthi attack on Thursday wounded 11 civilians in Saudi Arabia's Najran province, including a four-year-old child, and Houthi strikes hours earlier on government camps in Marib and Hadramout killed at least 30 troops and wounded at least 50 others, Yemeni officials told the Associated Press, though the Houthis claimed higher, unverified casualties. Reuters reported that the Houthis claimed missile attacks on Saudi oil tankers, though Riyadh has not confirmed the strikes, and that six Saudi-flagged supertankers have rerouted around southern Africa to avoid Bab el-Mandeb. A senior Saudi official told Reuters that intelligence pointed to possible coordinated attacks by Iran-backed forces in Yemen and Iraq under the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an assessment not independently corroborated. The rerouting shows Iran's Houthi allies can impose real…
Houthi Maritime Attacks Raise New Shipping Risks
Claimed Houthi attacks on commercial shipping have sharply reduced traffic through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, highlighting how the threat of attack alone can disrupt one of the world's most important maritime corridors. According to Reuters, only one vessel transited the strait on Wednesday, down from 20 the previous day, after the group claimed attacks on Saudi-linked shipping. The Houthis have framed the campaign as part of a blockade against Saudi Arabia announced in recent weeks, describing it as retaliation for what they allege is a blockade imposed on Yemen. The disruption followed Houthi claims that they had attacked two Saudi oil tankers, one near Yanbu on the Red Sea coast and another in the Gulf of Aden, as part of that campaign. Saudi Arabia has not confirmed the reported attacks, but the claims have heightened concerns among shipowners, insurers and maritime security analysts about operating in the southern Red Sea.…
Houthis Deny Plan to Charge Ships in Red Sea
Yemen's Houthi-run maritime authority denied on Saturday that it plans to charge commercial ships for passing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, saying transit "remains free of charge." The Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center (HOCC), which oversees vessel movement through the strait, said its safe-passage service is voluntary, and that anyone demanding payment "does not represent" Yemen or the HOCC, according to Al Jazeera.The denial followed a Reuters report that regional sources said the Houthis discussed a fee plan with Iranian officials during a July visit to Tehran for the funeral of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Iranian advisers are reportedly helping the Houthis set up a separate authority to regulate and collect the fees — distinct from the HOCC. The plan would reportedly exempt Chinese vessels, which Beijing has separately arranged safe passage for directly with the Houthis; sources told Reuters the initiative is intended to "normalize the practice" of charging for…
