Yemen Faces Highest Risk of Returning to War Since 2022 Truce, UN Warns

Yemen is facing its greatest risk of a return to full-scale war since the 2022 truce, the United Nations has warned, following a sharp increase in military activity along several front lines.

UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg told the UN Security Council that recent fighting between Houthi forces and forces loyal to the internationally recognised government had resulted in both military and civilian casualties.

Clashes have been reported in Marib, Hadramout, al-Makha and other areas. Government forces also said they had repelled a Houthi attack in Taiz, while carrying out artillery and drone strikes against Houthi positions in several governorates.

Grundberg urged all sides to immediately reduce tensions and work towards a stronger ceasefire. He also warned that renewed Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea could pull Yemen deeper into the wider regional confrontation involving the United States and Iran.

The UN envoy called for cooperation to keep commercial vessels reaching Yemeni ports, resume oil exports and restart commercial flights to and from Houthi-controlled Sanaa airport.

Meanwhile, Yemen's humanitarian crisis continues to worsen. UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said more than half of the country's population lacks reliable access to sufficient food, while about six million people are facing emergency levels of food insecurity close to famine conditions.

The conflict has also placed a heavy burden on women, with Fletcher saying three women die every day from preventable pregnancy-related complications.

Yemen has been embroiled in conflict since the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014. A Saudi-led military intervention followed in 2015, leading to years of devastating war.

The two sides reached a truce in 2022 that largely held, but efforts to achieve a permanent peace agreement stalled in 2023 as tensions across the region increased.

The latest escalation has raised renewed fears that Yemen could once again descend into a devastating full-scale conflict.

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