Houthi attacks threaten to further expand Yemen conflict: UN envoy

United Nations: The UN special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, has said that recent Houthi attacks across several frontlines are “an extremely alarming development” that threatens to further expand the conflict.

In a statement posted on social media platform X on Monday (local time), Grundberg said reports of civilians killed and injured, families displaced, and civilian infrastructure damaged were “deeply troubling.”

Grundberg said a return to sustained large-scale fighting will have grave consequences for civilians and make an already difficult path toward a political settlement even harder.

He called on all parties to “cease all hostilities,” exercise maximum restraint, and use existing channels, including the UN’s Military Coordination Committee, to prevent further escalation.

The envoy said he will continue engaging directly with the parties to contain the current escalation and preserve space for dialogue, while urging regional and international actors to use their influence towards those objectives, Xinhua news agency reported.

His remarks came as Houthi-government fighting widened across Yemen, with government forces launching a major offensive in the northern Al-Jawf province on Monday, and Houthis trying to cut key roads linking the western Taiz province with the government-held Red Sea port of Mocha and pushing toward the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait.

Backed by armoured vehicles, government forces began advancing toward the Houthi-held Al-Labanat military base east of Al-Hazm, the provincial capital of Al-Jawf, and were surrounding the facility as fighting raged, an official said on condition of anonymity.

The ground assault followed a series of airstrikes on the base over the past 48 hours that destroyed a Houthi command-and-control centre and arms caches, weakening the group’s defences there, he said.

The official said the operation was aimed at forcing the Houthis to divert forces from the southwestern province of Taiz and neighbouring Red Sea province of Hodeidah, where four days of fierce fighting had left at least 117 fighters dead on both sides.

Yemen has been mired in conflict since late 2014, when the Houthis seized Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene the following year in support of the internationally recognised Yemeni government.

IANS