UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg has warned the UN Security Council that Yemen is facing “the greatest risk of a return to large-scale conflict since the 2022 truce”, adding that “that risk has now turned into a harsh reality”.
Speaking on Thursday (10 Sep), Grundberg said fighting had intensified across multiple front lines, particularly on Yemen’s west coast, where Ansar Allah (The Houthis) had launched a major offensive and taken control of the port city of Mocha.
He said Mocha’s location near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait—a vital route linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden—had raised “serious concerns within the international community about the threat to freedom of navigation”.
Describing the escalation as a turning point, Grundberg said, “This renewed war should alarm us all,” warning it “effectively marks the end of the relative calm that Yemen has experienced for over four years since the UN-brokered truce”.
He urged the Government of Yemen and Ansar Allah to continue engagement, stressing that “the pathway to a political settlement needs to be preserved” through inclusive dialogue.
Warning that the conflict has entered “a new and more dangerous phase” whose consequences “will not stay within Yemen’s borders”, Grundberg called for sustained international engagement. Yemen’s conflict began after Ansar Allah seized Sanaa in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention in 2015.
The war has since left Yemen divided, with Ansar Allah controlling much of the north, including the capital, while the internationally recognised government retains influence in parts of the south and east. Although the 2022 UN-brokered truce reduced large-scale fighting, no comprehensive political settlement was reached, leaving underlying tensions unresolved.
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