U.N. extends monthly reporting on Houthi Red Sea attacks as Yemen’s fragile calm frays

As the U.N. Security Council renewed its scrutiny of Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea this week, its own senior officials delivered a stark message from Yemen’s shores: a fragile calm on land is starting to unravel, and millions of civilians are sliding back toward hunger, disease and displacement.

Security Council renews maritime reporting mandate

Meeting on Jan. 14 for its 10,089th session, the council adopted a resolution extending the secretary-general’s mandate to report monthly on attacks against merchant vessels off Yemen’s coast. In the same session, the U.N.’s top political and humanitarian officials for Yemen warned that political tensions—particularly in the south—and mounting restrictions on aid work are pushing the country toward a new phase of crisis.

“A fragile political calm in Yemen is fraying,” Hans Grundberg, the U.N. special envoy for Yemen, told council members. He said that while large-scale front-line fighting has ebbed since a 2022 truce, recent events show “how rapidly the situation can deteriorate in the absence of a credible political process.”

The Security Council’s action came in the form of Resolution 2812 (2026), approved by a vote of 13–0, with China and Russia abstaining. The measure extends until July 15 the requirement that the secretary-general provide written monthly updates on attacks on merchant and commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, most of them attributed to Yemen’s Houthi movement.

The U.S. representative welcomed the move, saying it “reaffirms the Council’s responsibility for continued vigilance against the Houthi terrorist threat to the freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and the surrounding waterways.”

Humanitarian officials warn of deepening crisis on land

The political focus in New York contrasted with the picture painted by humanitarian officials of conditions inside Yemen, where an estimated 19.5 million people—more than half the population—now require some form of assistance or protection.

Ramesh Rajasingham, director of the Coordination Division at the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told the council that more than 18 million people are expected to face acute food insecurity by next month. He warned that “tens of thousands” are projected to fall into what he described as catastrophic levels of hunger.

“Hard-won gains are at risk of being reversed,” Rajasingham said. “When access is obstructed and funding falls away, those gains are quickly reversed, and people fall back into crisis.”

According to U.N. figures he cited, more than 450 health facilities across Yemen have already shut due to damage, lack of staff or funding shortfalls, and thousands more are at risk. Only about two-thirds of Yemeni children are fully immunized, leaving millions at risk from preventable diseases such as measles, diphtheria, cholera and polio.

Aid operations, he added, are being “further constrained” by the ongoing detention of U.N. personnel by authorities aligned with the Houthis, who control much of northern and western Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa.

“Seventy-three U.N. staff remain detained by the de facto authorities, some of them for many months,” Rajasingham said, calling for their “immediate and unconditional release.” He said the detentions, along with broader restrictions, have severely disrupted operations in areas that account for roughly 70% of humanitarian needs nationwide.

The Houthis have not publicly detailed the charges against the detained staff. Humanitarian agencies and Security Council members have repeatedly described the arrests as arbitrary and warned that they are creating a climate of fear for aid workers and local partners.

Political tensions in the south test the post-truce calm

The warnings come amid signs that the uneasy de-escalation that followed the April 2022 truce between the Houthis and the internationally recognized government is under strain. While that agreement allowed a sharp reduction in airstrikes and major ground offensives, it did not produce a comprehensive political settlement.

Grundberg said recent developments in the southern governorates of Hadramout and Al-Mahra, where forces linked to the Southern Transitional Council (STC) and government-aligned units backed by Saudi Arabia faced off in December and early January, underscore the risks.

“The future of the south cannot be determined by any single actor or through force,” he told the council. He urged all parties to engage in dialogue and welcomed a proposal by Presidential Leadership Council chair Rashad al-Alimi to convene talks among a broad spectrum of southern leaders as “a potential step” toward a more inclusive process.

The STC, backed by the United Arab Emirates, seeks greater autonomy or independence for southern Yemen and wields significant influence in the interim capital, Aden, and other southern areas. Its push into Hadramout and Al-Mahra, followed by Saudi-backed government efforts to reassert control over key infrastructure, has highlighted rifts within the anti-Houthi camp even as the broader conflict remains unresolved.

Economy, displacement and child malnutrition worsen

Grundberg warned that political and security uncertainty is further weakening an already fragile economy, pointing to rising prices, unpaid public sector salaries and eroding basic services. He urged all Yemeni actors to shield key economic institutions, including the Central Bank, from political disputes, saying even brief episodes of instability risk further currency pressure and wider fiscal gaps.

While the council’s latest resolution focuses on the maritime dimension of the crisis, U.N. officials stressed that conditions on land are deteriorating. Displacement, though lower than at the height of nationwide fighting, continues, with U.N. and aid agency estimates indicating that roughly 24,000 to 28,000 people were newly displaced inside Yemen in 2025, more than half of them in Marib governorate.

Children have been hit particularly hard. U.N. assessments indicate that about one in two Yemeni children under age 5 is acutely malnourished. More than half a million are suffering from severe acute malnutrition, making them especially vulnerable to disease and death in the absence of reliable health care and clean water.

Red Sea attacks, geopolitics and rising costs

The council’s maritime reporting regime originated with Resolution 2722, adopted in January 2024 after a spate of Houthi missile, drone and boarding attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb strait. That text strongly condemned the attacks and affirmed states’ right to defend their ships in line with international law. Subsequent resolutions in 2025 extended the secretary-general’s reporting task and demanded that the Houthis cease attacks and release the car carrier Galaxy Leader and its crew, seized in November 2023.

Western governments argue that the reporting helps the council respond to threats to global trade and energy flows. China and Russia have consistently abstained on the maritime resolutions, cautioning that some states have used the texts to justify what they view as unilateral military actions that go beyond the council’s intent. They have also pressed to address the conflict in Gaza and wider regional tensions—which the Houthis cite as a justification for their Red Sea campaign—as a root cause of the current escalation.

U.N. officials did not dispute the importance of maritime security but suggested that the crisis at sea and the emergency on land are closely linked. Disruptions to shipping and rerouted traffic around southern Africa have increased freight costs and contributed to higher prices for imported food and fuel in Yemen, where most basic commodities arrive by sea.

“They cannot afford another slide into full-scale crisis”

Closing his briefing, Rajasingham warned that without restored access, increased funding and renewed political momentum, the limited gains made since the 2022 truce could quickly disappear.

“The Yemeni people have endured more than a decade of conflict, deprivation and uncertainty,” he said. “They cannot afford another slide into full-scale crisis.”

For now, the Security Council will receive detailed monthly reports on missiles and drones over the Red Sea. The officials who addressed the chamber this week left little doubt that what happens beyond Yemen’s coastline will matter—but that the more immediate danger lies in the hunger, illness and renewed instability spreading across the country itself.