The United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, told the Security Council on 10 September 2026 that the country faces what he called a new and more dangerous phase, warning that the four year period of relative calm since the 2022 UN mediated truce has ended.
Grundberg said fighting has intensified on multiple fronts. The Houthis have taken control of the Red Sea port of Mokha, roughly 75 kilometres from the Bab el-Mandeb strait, one of the world's most important shipping chokepoints. Attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden have resumed, and in early September the Houthis launched attacks in Taiz and Hudaydah. The Envoy warned that a risk he had flagged in August, of a return to large scale conflict, has now become reality.
The escalation sits within a wider regional picture. Military action by Israel and the United States against Iran on 28 February 2026 was followed by Houthi attacks against Israel from late March, and in July by strikes on Sana'a airport and Saudi facilities after an unauthorised flight from Tehran. The Security Council issued a press statement condemning the escalation in August and heard concerns that Red Sea and Gulf of Aden attacks threaten global trade.
For operators, the practical read is a sharply raised threat to maritime movement through the Bab el-Mandeb and the southern Red Sea, and a volatile picture ashore. The FCDO advises against all travel to the whole of Yemen, citing unpredictable security conditions and an ongoing risk of further military escalation at short notice.
