Yemen, Saudi envoys warn UN Security Council over Houthi escalation

Yemen's armed forces are working to stop Houthi rebels from threatening the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and international navigation, the country's envoy told an emergency session of the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

Ambassador Abdullah Al-Saadi said Yemen's forces are regrouping and regaining control, and pledged that the Houthis would "once again fail to turn any battleground gains into a reality." He said the government was treating recent developments on the west coast and around Bab el-Mandeb with resolve and confidence in its ability to absorb their effects and recover the initiative.

Al-Saadi framed the campaign against the Houthis as an international matter, saying their attempt to control a key corridor for global energy and trade required effective enforcement of the UN arms embargo on the group. He also described the human cost, noting that Yemenis are the first to bear it — through death, injury, detention and displacement — with tens of thousands forced from their homes, some for the second or third time.

Saudi Arabia's ambassador, Abdulaziz Alwasil, said the Houthi escalation could not be seen in isolation from a wider pattern of attacks on his country. He said strikes on civilian and economic sites in Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran on 8 September injured dozens of civilians, including women and children. Less than a week later, on 14 September, attacks were renewed on Khamis Mushait, Abha and Taif, injuring 13 civilians and damaging seven homes and two vehicles, he said.

Alwasil said continued attacks on commercial shipping and threats to maritime security in the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb showed the consequences were not confined to one country, but endangered the region and one of the world's most important shipping lanes, with economic effects reaching much of the globe. He did not name the Houthis' Iranian backers.

Briefing the council, Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, said UN teams in Djibouti were working with the government there after an influx of people fleeing the latest escalation in Yemen. About 2,300 people had reached the Obock region in northern Djibouti as of 14 September, registration was continuing and more arrivals were expected, he said.

Khiari warned that the longer the Strait remains choked, the higher the global cost, adding that further escalation risked grave consequences for international peace and security, energy markets, food security and economies far beyond the region, particularly the most vulnerable.