(Note: Owing to the financial liquidity crisis affecting the Organization, a complete summary of today's Security Council meeting will be available later.)
During an emergency meeting on the sharp escalation of the conflict in Yemen, the Security Council today heard that the period of relative calm prevailing in the country over the last four years has ended; now, the international community must determine how to address this new, more dangerous phase of war.
The situation in Yemen has grown increasingly fraught over recent months. In connection with the military action initiated by Israel and the United States against Iran on 28 February , the Houthis - officially known as Ansar Allah - launched attacks against Israel at the end of March . This prompted concerns that Yemen would be drawn into this escalating conflict, which it could ill afford. In July , an unauthorized flight from Tehran to Sana'a airport prompted strikes on that structure, as well as on an airport and oil facilities in Saudi Arabia.
The Council condemned that series of events in an August Press Statement, and later that month, heard that intensifying military activity and attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden are again imperilling global trade and threatening to drag Yemen into wider regional instability. At that time, Hans Grundberg, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for that country, warned the organ that Yemen faced "a more serious risk of return to large-scale conflict than at any point since the 2022 UN-mediated truce ".
"That risk has now turned into a harsh reality," he stated at today's meeting, pointing to intensified fighting across multiple front lines over the past 24 hours. The Houthis have gained control of the port city of Mokha, which lies roughly 75 kilometres from the Bab el-Mandeb strait. This gives them "a direct presence on the approaches to one of the world's most vital straits", he observed, noting serious international concerns over this threat to freedom of navigation.
Reporting that these developments follow weeks of escalation, he recalled that the Houthis launched extensive attacks in the cities of Taiz and Hudaydah in early September. This set off increasingly intense confrontations with Government forces, spreading elsewhere with attendant civilian casualties and displacement. Further, the Houthis have attacked civilian and energy infrastructure in Saudi Arabia .
"This renewed war should alarm us all," he underscored, as it "effectively marks the end of the relative calm" that Yemen has experienced for over four years since the UN-brokered truce". The situation was "not inevitable", he said, stressing that Yemeni demands can be addressed through negotiations." While stating that he will continue to engage with the Government and the Houthis to "identify feasible ways forward and to keep open options for off-ramps", he stressed that "what is negotiated - and what is ultimately agreed - is for Yemenis to decide".
Against that backdrop, he urged that channels of engagement remain open, that international law be upheld and that the pathway to a political settlement be preserved. On that, he noted his consultations with "Yemenis in all their diversity" and reported that, across the country, their demands are "strikingly consistent". They want reopened roads and airports, paid salaries, improved public services, released detainees and a stabilized economy. Further, they desire guarantees for equal citizenship, social and economic justice and State institutions that serve citizens equitably.
"Such a political future for Yemen will need to be forged through inclusive dialogue," he emphasized, adding that the UN stands "always ready" to accompany Yemenis along that path. For the international community, he said that the question is no longer whether Yemen's war will resume. Rather, it is "how to address a new and more dangerous phase", he said - "one whose consequences, if left unchecked, will not stay within Yemen's borders".
He concluded: "Yemen cannot be allowed to slip from the Council's attention."
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