Yemen: Briefing
On Monday afternoon (13 July), the Security Council is expected to hold an open briefing on Yemen under the agenda item “the situation in the Middle East”. The Yemeni government requested an emergency meeting in a 7 July letter from its Prime Minister, Shaya Mohsen al-Zindani, which cites recent violations of Security Council resolutions by the Houthi rebel group, with support from Iran. Council members the UK (the penholder on Yemen), Bahrain, France, and the US supported the meeting request. The anticipated briefers are Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations (DPPA-DPO) Mohamed Khaled Khiari and Acting Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Indrika Ratwatte.
The meeting will take place against a backdrop of escalating tensions between the internationally recognised Yemeni government, which is presently based in the southern city of Aden, and the rebel Houthi militia, which in 2014 took control of northern Yemen, including the capital Sana’a. This ignited a civil war in Yemen which has been frozen since a 2022 UN-mediated truce between the parties. Events in recent months, however, have renewed tensions between the parties.
On 3 July, media reports indicated that an Iranian civilian aircraft, which the Houthis claimed was transporting over 200 patients and stranded Yemeni citizens, landed in the Houthi-controlled Sana’a International Airport. That same day, the plane reportedly returned to Tehran, apparently transporting a Houthi delegation to the funeral of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on 28 February by US-Israeli airstrikes.
The incident marked the first publicly confirmed landing of an Iranian aircraft in Sana’a in approximately a decade. Since 2016, the Saudi-led Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen—which was established at the height of the Yemeni civil war to militarily support the Yemeni government—has maintained restrictions over air traffic into and out of Sana’a with the aim of preventing Iran from supplying the Houthis with weapons. Some of these restrictions were eased as part of the 2022 truce, which allowed commercial flights from Sana’a to Egypt and Jordan to restart. In May 2025, Israeli strikes reportedly destroyed the only Yemenia Airways planes operating from Sana’a International Airport, once more disrupting commercial flights from this airport.
The Houthis said that they used air defences against Saudi fighter planes that allegedly attempted to prevent the aircraft from landing in Sana’a on 3 July. They further threatened a “comprehensive response” targeting Saudi airports and vital sites if Riyadh repeats what the Houthis characterised as an airspace violation. In a 4 July statement, the official spokesperson of the Coalition, Major General Turki Al-Malki, dismissed the Houthi threats and warned that the Coalition would respond with “unprecedented determination and force” to attempts to target Saudi Arabia or to violate Yemen’s sovereignty.
For its part, the Yemeni government’s Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) reportedly convened an emergency meeting on 4 July and PLC President Rashad al-Alimi condemned the flight as a violation of Yemeni sovereignty, arguing that the development demonstrates Iran’s support for the Houthis and undermines UN-led peace efforts. On 7 July, the government further called for an international investigation into the cargo of the Iranian aircraft, alleging that the flight could have been used to transport materials that are prohibited under UN sanctions to the Houthis.
While the Yemeni government’s 7 July letter to the Council does not directly mention the 3 July flight, it refers to “repeated violations” committed by the Houthis with the support of Iran, including “Iranian violations of the airspace and sovereignty of Yemen”, describing them as a threat to international peace and security. In addition to calling for an urgent Security Council meeting, the letter urges the Council to condemn the violations and prevent their reoccurrence as well as to call on Iran to respect Yemeni sovereignty and territorial integrity.
At Monday’s meeting, Khiari is expected to take note of the incident and the concerns expressed by the Yemeni government, while stressing that the parties should refrain from any unilateral actions that could escalate tensions and should prioritise resolving contentious issues through dialogue and diplomacy. He may also underscore the need for the parties to exercise restraint and to refrain from any aggressive rhetoric that could lead to escalatory actions.
Council members are likely to reaffirm their strong commitment to Yemen’s unity, sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity. Several members may stress that all parties are obliged to respect these principles and to fully comply with resolution 2216 of 14 April 2015—which imposes an arms embargo on the Houthis—and other relevant Council resolutions and UN sanctions regimes.
While some Council members may express concerns that the flight violated Yemeni airspace, those that are more critical of the Houthis and of Iranian support for the group may condemn the incident as a violation of Yemeni sovereignty and argue that it risks further destabilising the country’s security and stability. These members might also warn that such flights could be used to circumvent the sanctions imposed on the Houthis.
Speakers are likely to use Monday’s meeting to reiterate longstanding calls for progress towards an inclusive Yemeni-led political process and to express support for the efforts of UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg to resume negotiations between the parties. Several members may refer to the detainee release agreement announced on 14 May as evidence that dialogue can produce tangible results and may call on the parties to build on that momentum towards a broader political settlement. In this context, some members might underscore that the current escalation risks undermining such confidence-building measures and warn against actions that could push the parties further away from the negotiating table.
Speakers are also expected to reiterate their demand to the Houthis to release individuals being held in arbitrary detention, including UN and humanitarian personnel. The Houthis have detained dozens of staff belonging to the UN, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and embassies since 2021, drawing repeated condemnations from Security Council members. On Monday, several members are likely to stress that these detentions disrupt humanitarian operations in Houthi-controlled territory and further exacerbate the dire humanitarian crisis in Yemen, while underlining the obligation of all conflict parties to allow and facilitate humanitarian access to civilians in need.
Some Council members are also likely to raise concerns about the recent upsurge in violence on the ground, following clashes in the Jabal Dabbas area of Hodeidah governorate on 4 July—in which at least 16 government troops and 50 Houthi fighters were reportedly killed—and reiterate calls for deescalation and restraint.
Finally, some members are expected to refer to the broader regional escalation involving Iran and the US, as recent exchanges of fire have jeopardised the 17 June memorandum of understanding between the two countries. Some members may condemn Iran’s attacks against commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and similarly condemn recent Houthi threats against maritime navigation in the Red Sea and against regional countries. At the same time, members may also stress the importance of insulating Yemen from being drawn further into the regional escalation, warning of the devastating consequences this would have for the Yemeni people.
