The UN envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, said on Wednesday that the ongoing military escalation in the Red Sea is slowing down the pace of peace efforts in the country.
This came during a briefing presented by Grundberg to the Security Council, and Grundberg added that “the escalation of regional tensions related to the war in Gaza.
In particular, the military escalation in the Red Sea leads to a slowdown in the pace of peace efforts in Yemen.
He called for “reducing the regional escalation, refraining the Yemeni parties from public incitement, and focusing the concerned parties (the countries sponsoring the peace efforts) on protecting the progress that has been achieved until an agreement is reached.”
Grundberg addressed the members of the Security Council: “Everyone in this council has influence. You have a collective responsibility to protect the (UN) mediation path and ensure that the Yemenis have a real opportunity for peace.”
Grundberg’s briefing comes that the United States and Britain carried out a total of 8 raids on Wednesday in Hodeidah Governorate, which is under the control of the Houthis.
For more than a year, Yemen has witnessed a lull in a war that began about 9 years ago between pro-government forces supported by an Arab military coalition.
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It is led by neighboring Saudi Arabia and the Houthi forces, who are supported by Iran and have controlled governorates and cities, including Sanaa, since September 2014.
In “solidarity with Gaza,” which is facing a devastating Israeli war with American support, the Houthis targeted, with missiles and drones, Israeli cargo ships or those linked to them in the Red Sea.
Confirming their intention to continue their operations until the end of the war on the Gaza Strip.
With the intervention of Washington and London and the tensions taking a noticeable escalation trend last January, Al-Houthi announced that it now considered all American and British ships among its military targets.
Since the beginning of 2024, the Washington-led coalition has launched raids that it says target “Houthi sites” in various regions of Yemen.
This was in response to its attacks in the Red Sea, which was met with a response from the group from time to time.
