(Note: A complete summary of today's Security Council meeting will be available later.)
International efforts are urgently needed to prevent further escalation of the conflict in Yemen and safeguard freedom of navigation in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the Security Council heard today in an emergency meeting following recent Houthi advances towards the critical global chokepoint.
Today’s meeting is the second emergency Council meeting on the situation in Yemen in less than a week. On 10 September, the organ was told that the risk of Yemen returning to large-scale conflict — which it was warned about in August — has now become a “harsh reality”. The Council was also informed that the renewed war marked the end of the relative calm that prevailed since a truce was mediated by the UN in 2022. This conflict has long implicated maritime security in critical regional waterways, on which the Council has focused for years.
“The situation in and around the Bab al-Mandab Strait has become increasingly volatile in recent days,” said Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations. In recent days, fighting has intensified along Yemen’s west coast as the Houthis have continued their advance towards the Strait and reportedly captured several islands in the southern Red Sea. “According to maritime tracking sites, commercial shipping flows through the Red Sea appear to remain unaffected for the time being,” he observed.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s Government reportedly launched a counteroffensive that included “extensive air strikes”, with localized clashes reported across several front lines and unconfirmed estimates of hundreds of combatant casualties in recent days. As for the civilian impact, he pointed to at least 125,000 people displaced across Yemen since the start of September, as well as 40 civilian casualties over that same period — more than half of which are women and children. Meanwhile, across the Red Sea in Djibouti, approximately 2,300 people have arrived fleeing the escalating conflict in Yemen, and further arrivals are expected.
“The ongoing escalation is not limited to the Bab al-Mandab Strait and Yemen,” he went on to say, noting reported casualties and damaged homes in several cities in Saudi Arabia following Houthi missile and drone strikes on 14 September. And on 12 September, Saudi Arabia condemned the targeting of the East-West Pipeline by several drones reportedly launched from an area inside Iraq. Iraq’s Prime Minister said that Baghdad will investigate this attack. “The strikes caused the pipeline to shut down for repairs, interrupting the crucial artery Saudi Arabia had been using as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz,” he said.
Condemning these cross-border attacks, he also underscored that navigational rights and freedoms in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait must be fully restored and respected by all, consistent with resolution 2722 (2024). “Developments around the Bab al-Mandab Strait underline the urgent need to prevent Yemen’s conflict from further threatening the security of the Red Sea and this vital international maritime route,” he stressed, adding: “What is needed now is sustained engagement that reduces tensions, prevents further escalation and safeguards freedom of navigation.”
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