UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg on Friday called on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and halt actions that could trigger further military retaliation, urging them to return to good-faith negotiations under UN auspices.
"Yemen today faces a greater risk of renewed large-scale conflict than at any point since the UN-brokered truce of April 2022," Grundberg said in a statement.
Grundberg said recent attacks by Houthis in Ma'rib and Hadramawt are said to have caused significant casualties, including among civilians, while renewed attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden were further escalating tensions.
He expressed concern over strikes against civilian infrastructure, including airports, and the growing risk that Yemen could be drawn into a broader regional confrontation.
"Taken together, these developments risk jeopardizing the gains of the 2022 truce, reflected in the relative calm that has held inside Yemen in recent years, while also drawing the country into a broader regional confrontation, with devastating consequences for its people," he said.
The UN envoy said he spent the past several weeks engaging with Yemeni parties, regional actors and international partners to explore ways to halt the escalation and reverse the current trajectory.
Despite the deteriorating situation, Grundberg said he remained convinced that a diplomatic solution was still possible.
He said such an approach would require political will, difficult decisions and genuine engagement from the parties, but argued that negotiations offered the only realistic path toward military de-escalation, greater economic stability and improved freedom of movement for people and goods.
"I call on the parties to exercise maximum restraint, stop actions that encourage military retaliation, and engage in good-faith negotiations under United Nations auspices.
"With the support of regional actors and international partners, such a path preserves the opportunity for a negotiated way out," he said.
The UN will continue to support the parties and stand with the Yemeni people for a peaceful resolution to the conflict, the envoy added.
Houthis captured the capital Sanaa in September 2014, with a Saudi-led coalition intervening in March 2015 on the side of the government.
The conflict has triggered a prolonged humanitarian and economic crisis.
Last month, the Houthis declared a naval blockade on Riyadh, and has since struck facilities in Saudi Arabia, as well as government forces in Yemen, considered a major escalation since the 2022 truce.
