Yemen
Expected Council Action
In August, the Security Council will hold its monthly briefing, followed by closed consultations, on Yemen. UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg and an official from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) are expected to brief on political, security, and humanitarian developments in the country.
Key Recent Developments
In July, the Houthis—a Yemeni rebel group also known as Ansar Allah—resumed targeting commercial vessels in the Red Sea for the first time since late 2024. Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the region are part of the group’s offensive against Israel, which they say is in solidarity with Palestinians. They have threatened to continue until Israel ends its military campaign in Gaza that followed the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks.
The Houthis have reportedly said that ships linked to Israel are a legitimate target. On 6 July, the group attacked and sank the Liberian-flagged, Greek-operated MV Magic Seas. 23 persons who abandoned the ship were rescued by the United Arab Emirates. The following day, on 7 July, the Houthis attacked and sank the MV Eternity C, another Liberian-flagged, Greek-operated ship, killing at least five and injuring several of the crew members. On 29 July, the Houthis reportedly released video footage of ten crew members they captured, saying that they had rescued them. Both ships had docked in Israel in the past, although neither is Israeli-owned. In a 10 July statement, UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg called on the Houthis to cease such escalatory attacks, while an 11 July statement attributable to Secretary-General António Guterres strongly condemned the attacks.
On 15 July, the Security Council adopted resolution 2787, extending the monthly reporting by the Secretary-General on attacks by the Houthi rebel group in Yemen on merchant and commercial vessels in the Red Sea until 15 January 2026. The resolution was adopted with 12 votes in favour and three abstentions (Algeria, China, and Russia), consistent with their votes on the previous three renewals of the resolution. (For more information, see our 12 July What’s in Blue story.)
Reciprocal strikes between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Houthis also continued in July. After a 1 July Houthi-launched missile was intercepted by Israel, the country’s Defence Minister, Israel Katz, vowed retaliation against the group and warned that Yemen would meet the same fate as Tehran, referring to Israel’s 12-day military campaign against Iran in June. On 7 July, the IDF conducted strikes against the Houthi-controlled ports of Hodeidah, Ras Isa, and Salif, as well as the Ras Qantib power plant and the MV Galaxy Leader—a ship seized by the Houthis in April 2023, which Israel claims was being used by the group to track vessels in the Red Sea. The Houthis retaliated on the same day by firing two ballistic missiles at Israel, and continued to intermittently launch missiles at Israel, with no injuries reported at the time of writing. Israel struck Houthi targets in Hodeidah with drones on 21 July.
Reportedly, Israel has urged a renewal of US attacks against the Houthis and the formation of a multi-state coalition to counter the Houthi threat. In May, the US and the Houthis had agreed to an Oman-mediated ceasefire, following months of US bombing on Houthi targets.
On 14 July, the Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2786, renewing the mandate of the UN Mission to support the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA) until 28 January 2026. The resolution requested the Secretary-General “to present to the Council, before 28 November 2025, a further review of UNMHA with a view to delivering further efficiencies and structural coherence and coordination across UN missions in Yemen”.
The Houthis’ involvement in broader regional tensions has continued to stall progress towards a roadmap for peace in Yemen, including a nationwide ceasefire. In his briefing to the Council on 9 July, Grundberg said that while the “frontlines in Yemen continue to hold, the situation remains fragile and unpredictable” with continued military activity and troop movements in a number of governorates.
During his briefing, Grundberg covered his visit to Aden in early July, where he met Yemeni Prime Minister Salem Bin Buraik. Among the issues discussed was Yemen’s deepening economic crisis, with Grundberg calling on the parties to engage on tangible and practical measures to revive the economy, including by enabling the government of Yemen to resume oil and gas production exports. According to media reports, on 12 July, the Houthi-controlled Central Bank in Sanaa announced the issuance of a new 50-Yemeni Rial coin, raising risks of further monetary division between areas controlled by the group and areas controlled by the internationally recognised government of Yemen. In a 17 July statement, Grundberg expressed deep concern about such unilateral actions, which risk further undermining Yemen’s fragile economy.
The economic crisis is also further exacerbating the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen. Briefing the Council on 9 July, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher warned that Yemen’s food security crisis is accelerating and projected that between September and February 2026, over 18 million people could go hungry, echoing projections by the 27 June Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis. He stressed that critical funding shortfalls are affecting food, health, and protection services, especially for women and girls. He also cited important breakthroughs such as the reopening of key roads in June and the restoration of water access in Taiz governorate on 1 July. Fletcher called for urgent increased funding, the immediate release of Houthi-detained aid workers, and respect for international humanitarian law to protect civilians and aid operations.
Women, Peace and Security
Summer Nasser, the Chief Executive Officer of Yemen Aid, briefed the Security Council during the 9 July meeting on Yemen. Nasser highlighted how the sudden decline in international humanitarian funding, mainly driven by shifts in donor priorities, has led to the cessation of food distributions, the closure of health facilities, and the disruption of cash transfer programs, leaving many Yemenis facing an uncertain future. She warned that the deliberate targeting of commercial and humanitarian vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden by the Houthis is severely disrupting the delivery of vital supplies to the country’s ports and has led to a “dramatic spike in the prices of basic commodities in a country that is already suffering from economic paralysis and deliberate starvation tactics”. Nasser called on the Council to enhance long-term humanitarian and development funding to ensure the continuity of critical programs, particularly in the sectors of health, food security and education. Among other issues, Nasser highlighted how the Houthis continue to violate the rights of humanitarian workers through arbitrary detention, harassment, as well as restrictions imposed on both international and local organisations, including UN agencies. She urged the Council to exert pressure on the Houthis to immediately and unconditionally release all detained humanitarian workers.
Key Issues and Options
A key issue for the Council is how to help mitigate the risk of an escalation of hostilities in Yemen and the Red Sea while advancing efforts to relaunch the stalled intra-Yemeni political process amid broader regional tensions. Renewed Houthi attacks against commercial vessels and global maritime supply chains in the Red Sea further complicate efforts to secure the UN’s roadmap for peace in Yemen.
One option for the Council would be to issue a presidential statement calling for de-escalation, stressing that there is no military solution to the conflict in Yemen, and demanding that the Yemeni parties resume concrete discussions on establishing a roadmap under UN auspices for inclusive peace in the country. Given the degradation of economic conditions in the country, members could also demand renewed economic and humanitarian measures, such as the implementation of the economic de-escalation agreement reached on 23 July 2024 between the Houthis and the Yemeni government.
The statement could also reiterate provisions from relevant resolutions on the situation in Yemen and the Red Sea, demanding that the Houthis immediately cease all attacks against merchant and commercial vessels, reiterating the need to address the root causes of the attacks in the Red Sea, and calling on all member states to adhere to the arms embargo imposed by resolution 2216.
Given the increasingly fraught humanitarian context, Council members could also consider holding a public briefing, possibly at high level, focused specifically on Yemen’s humanitarian crisis—which could include a briefing from the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) or the World Food Programme (WFP) on the country’s rapidly worsening food security—providing members the opportunity to highlight the urgent need for bolstering funding pledges.
Council Dynamics
Council members are largely aligned in support of an inclusive intra-Yemeni political process, the need to improve economic and humanitarian conditions in the country, and the need to restore freedom of navigation and security to the Red Sea. Advancing mediation efforts towards a resumption of dialogue and a peace process under UN auspices remains an overarching priority for members.
Nevertheless, members have divergent views on the reasons for the protracted political stalemate and insecurity in Yemen. The “A3 plus one” members, China, Pakistan, and Russia have all stressed that the situation in Yemen and the Red Sea cannot be discussed in isolation from the situation in Gaza. Russia and China have also criticised foreign military action in Yemen—Israel, the UK, and the US have all conducted strikes targeting Houthi infrastructure since the beginning of the Red Sea crisis—claiming that it only serves to degrade the country’s already dire humanitarian situation, exacerbate the situation in the Red Sea, and negatively impact the peace process.
On the other hand, the P3 members (France, the UK, and the US) have accused Iran of financially and militarily supporting the Houthis, fostering further regional tensions. The US has repeatedly called for the Security Council to respond to Iranian defiance of the Council-mandated arms embargo.
The 14 July renewal of UNMHA, until 28 January 2026, revealed opposing views over the mission’s future. The US has stressed its position that it is time to “sunset” the mission, whereas other Council members, including Russia and China, have expressed positions supportive of the mission’s continuity, highlighting its stabilising role in the Hodeidah region. The Secretary-General’s Council-mandated November review of the mission will help inform the Council’s deliberations on the mission’s future viability.
Several Council members have also called for the strengthening of the United Nations Verification and Inspection Mechanism (UNVIM), which inspects ships travelling to Houthi-controlled ports to ensure compliance with the arms embargo against the group.
The UK is the penholder on Yemen. Greece and the US are the co-penholders on the Red Sea crisis.
| Security Council Resolutions | |
| 15 July 2025S/RES/2787 | This resolution extends the Secretary-General’s monthly reporting requirement on Houthi attacks on merchant and commercial vessels in the Red Sea until 15 January 2026. |
| 14 July 2025S/RES/2786 | This resolution renewed the mandate of UNMHA until 28 January 2026 and requested the Secretary-General to present to the Council, before 28 November 2025, a further review of UNMHA with a view to delivering further efficiencies and structural coherence and coordination across UN missions in Yemen. |
| Security Council Press Statements | |
| 5 June 2025SC/16079 | This was a press statement marking one year since the June 2024 wave of arbitrary detentions of UN and NGO personnel by the Houthis. |
| 13 February 2025SC/15995 | This was a press statement on Houthi Detention of United Nations, International Non-governmental Organization Workers. |
