Yemen is closer to all-out war than at any point since a landmark ceasefire was reached in 2022, the United Nations special envoy for the country has warned, as military activity surges along frozen front lines and a deepening humanitarian crisis tightens its grip on the population.
UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg told the Security Council on Thursday that fighting has flared across multiple regions, with Houthi forces — aligned with Iran — clashing with troops loyal to the internationally recognised, Aden-based government in Marib, Hadramout and al-Makha (also known as Mocha), among other areas. Government forces reported repelling a Houthi attack on Taiz, a city in central Yemen that has been a focal point of the conflict for years, while simultaneously launching their own artillery and drone strikes across several governorates. The head of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council warned that every Houthi action would be met with "a comprehensive response or deterrence." On Thursday, the Houthis claimed responsibility for a drone strike on an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia's Jazan province, calling it retaliation for alleged Saudi violations of Yemeni airspace — the latest exchange in a series of cross-border attacks since the Houthis declared a blockade on Saudi shipping in the Red Sea on 20 July.
Yemen has been mired in conflict since the Houthi movement seized the capital Sanaa in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention the following year. The 2022 truce brought relative calm but peace negotiations stalled in 2023 as regional tensions escalated. Grundberg also warned that renewed Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping risk drawing Yemen into the broader confrontation between the United States and Iran. A Pentagon review released this week confirmed that US airstrikes conducted in April 2025 — targeting Houthi positions in and around Sanaa and at Ras Isa port in response to earlier attacks on commercial vessels — killed 153 civilians and injured 243 others. The strike on Ras Isa port alone killed 80 people. The US military determined the strikes "more likely than not" resulted in civilian harm, though it concluded that condolence payments to victims were not appropriate, without explaining the reasoning.
The humanitarian situation has deteriorated sharply alongside the military escalation. More than half of Yemen's roughly 34 million people lack reliable access to adequate food, with six million facing emergency levels of deprivation that border on famine, UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher told the Security Council. Three women die every day from preventable pregnancy-related complications, he said. The United Kingdom's UN representative, Sarah MacIntosh, blamed the Houthis for the crisis, accusing the group of "reckless" actions that have triggered wider regional instability, and urging them to prioritise peace over confrontation.
Grundberg called on all parties to de-escalate immediately and pursue a robust ceasefire. He urged both sides to cooperate on economic recovery — including ensuring commercial vessels can reach Yemeni ports, resuming oil exports, and restoring civilian flights to and from Sanaa airport — arguing that they "have more to gain from cooperation than confrontation." With regional dynamics shifting rapidly and both sides hardening their positions, the window for a negotiated settlement appears narrower than at any time in the past three years.