NEW YORK, 9 October 2026 — UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg warned the Security Council that Yemen had returned to full-scale war, with hostilities spreading across several fronts.
The UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs reported that his assessment followed weeks of renewed fighting and advances by Ansar Allah around Mokha and the Bab al-Mandab coast.
Fighting continued in the highlands west and south of Taiz and extended into Lahj, according to the UN account of Friday’s briefing.
The department said Yemen’s Government had launched a major counter-offensive earlier in the week and reported recovering areas around Bab al-Mandab. That territorial claim was attributed to the Government.
The briefing also described intensified fighting in Marib, al-Jawf and Hajjah, alongside attacks by Ansar Allah on civilian and energy infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.
The Council’s discussion brought the widening conflict back into focus for UN diplomacy. Grundberg’s warning described a deterioration in security rather than an announcement of a new peace agreement.
References
- UN DPPA report on the Security Council briefing, 9 October 2026
- UN mission platform: report of the same briefing
- Additional reporting: Anadolu, 9 October 2026
Illustrative photograph of international flags; not a photograph of fighting in Yemen. Photo: Mathias Reding / Unsplash.