UN envoy warns Security Council Yemen’s war has entered ‘dangerous phase’

United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg said the country faces “a new and more dangerous phase of war”, as the country’s fragile four-year truce collapses.

The United Nations Security Council held a session on Yemen after Houthi rebels captured the strategic port city of Mocha, near the Bab al-Mandeb strait on Thursday.

The Houthis’ seizure of Mocha gives the group a direct presence near Bab al-Mandeb, raising concerns over freedom of navigation through the vital trade and energy route.

Grundberg said fighting has spread across the provinces of Taiz, Hodeidah, Marib, al-Jawf and al-Bayda, killing civilians and displacing more than 11,400 households since September 3. The Houthis have also struck civilian and energy infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.

Grundberg urged the Houthis to halt attacks and threats against commercial vessels and called for continued engagement, civilian protection and preservation of a political settlement, warning that the conflict’s consequences “will not remain within Yemen’s borders”.

The UN ambassador for Yemen’s internationally recognised government, Abdullah Ali Fadhel Al-Saadi, condemned the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and reaffirmed the kingdom’s right to self-defence. He also rejected the use of Yemeni territory to strike neighbouring states.

Al-Saadi told the council that the Houthi escalation has displaced at least 6,145 families, roughly 44,000 people. The Red Sea attacks and advances towards Bab al-Mandeb threaten international navigation, he warned.

He urged the international community to enforce restrictions on arms, components and expertise reaching the Houthis, instead of “repeatedly containing individual attacks”.