UN envoy meets Houthis to avert Yemen escalation
The UN envoy for Yemen said Tuesday he met with Houthi negotiators over the weekend in efforts to avert further escalation in Yemen amid fierce battles on the country’s western coast between the Iran-backed Houthis and the Saudi-supported, but fragmented, Government forces.
The renewed violence, which has killed hundreds and displaced tens of thousands, is the latest twist in Yemen’s conflict, which began in 2014 when the Iran-backed rebels took over the capital, Sanaa, forcing the country’s Government to settle into exile in Saudi Arabia. The kingdom entered the war a year later with a multinational coalition.
In an interview with The Associated Press in Cairo, Hans Grundberg said his meeting in Muscat with the Houthis’ chief negotiator, Mohammed Abdul-Salam, aimed to explore “if there are ways of how to avoid seeing the current escalation go even further.” He also held talks in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, with the internationally recognised Government and regional powers, including Saudi Arabia, which has been the main target of the Houthis’ latest escalation that he described as “unprecedented” and “dramatic.”
Grundberg said the instability in the region, and the “influence of regional parties, including Iran, and also other neighbours to Yemen,” has also impacted the course of the Yemen conflict.
Aided by Iranian experts, the Houthis stormed down the Red Sea coast earlier in September, capturing the strategic city of Mokha and a number of Red Sea islands, extending their reach to the key maritime waterway of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. It was the Houthis’ biggest land grab in years, and ended a 2022 ceasefire that largely stopped major fighting in Yemen’s 12-year civil war.
The rebels have also intensified their attacks across the border into Saudi Arabia, attacking its oil facilities and preventing its tankers from passing through the Bab el-Mandeb strait, through which around 12 per cent of global trade passes.
