UN rights chief warns Yemen risks slipping back into full-scale war
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk voiced alarm over rising civilian casualties in Yemen and called on all parties to de-escalate. He warned that continued Houthi attacks threaten to plunge the country back into full-blown conflict.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Monday expressed concern over escalating hostilities in Yemen and a growing civilian death toll, calling on all sides involved to ease tensions.
Yemen, gripped by more than a decade of civil war, was pulled further into the broader Iran conflict last month after the Iran-backed Houthi movement broke a 2022 truce with the Saudi-backed government and intensified attacks on territory it controls. The renewed violence has raised fears of a slide back into full-scale war in the Arabian Peninsula's poorest nation.
"I call on all parties to de-escalate tensions and spare the Yemeni people from further misery. The Yemeni people have already suffered way too much from the devastating legacy of years of conflict, displacement and humanitarian crisis," Türk said, urging an immediate halt to any actions risking a return to full-scale conflict.
Recent attacks
Earlier this month, Houthi fighters carried out their deadliest attacks in years, killing 58 government soldiers, mostly in the oil-rich Marib province, according to a military source. The same day, two civilians died in Houthi shelling of residential areas and displacement camps in Marib.
The UN human rights office said at least seven civilians had been killed and ten wounded in Houthi attacks on government-held areas since 6 August, while two civilians were reported injured in Houthi-controlled areas in late July. A Houthi missile and drone strike on the Red Sea port of Mokha on 9 August killed three port workers and injured four more. On 11 August, a Houthi attack on a cargo vessel in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait reportedly killed four crew members — three Pakistani nationals and one Indonesian — and wounded several others.
The office noted that civilian sites had also been struck, including fuel storage facilities and a residential compound at the Saudi Field Hospital in Mokha. Türk warned that attacks on civilian infrastructure deepen suffering at a time when at least 18 million Yemenis already face food insecurity, and called for such attacks to stop immediately.
