Yemen could return to civil war due to the inability of various sides of the conflict to renew a truce, the UN had backed a truce since April as it was supposed to be renewed.
The Iranian-backed Houthis recently held a military parade showing off their drones and other weapons which Iran has helped the Houthis with, the same way it has helped Hezbollah and Russia.
Erin Hutchinson, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Country Director in Yemen, put out a statement about the failure to renew the truce.
"Today’s announcement that an agreement to renew the truce in Yemen has not been reached is deeply disappointing. It is a missed opportunity to help millions of Yemeni civilians out of the brutal conflict that the warring parties have dug the country into,” he said.
"Today’s announcement that an agreement to renew the truce in Yemen has not been reached is deeply disappointing. It is a missed opportunity to help millions of Yemeni civilians out of the brutal conflict that the warring parties have dug the country into.”
Erin Hutchinson, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Country Director in Yemen
“We call on the parties to the conflict to reconsider, refrain from pulling the trigger, put aside their differences, and extend the arm of diplomacy as they have done successfully for the last six months. Indeed, the last two months have shown that solutions are within sight when they agree to focus on them, instead of the fighting.”
The war in Yemen
The war in Yemen dates back seven years, Saudi Arabia led an intervention to prevent the Houthis from taking Aden and overrunning most of the country.
Iran supplied the Houthis with weapons and the Houthis threatened Israel, the US and other gulf states. This jeopardizes the safety of trade in the region and threatens the Red Sea.
Recently Iran has sought to target US naval unmanned vessels, such as sail drones. Iran also attacked a ship last year in the Gulf of Oman.
UN Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg said he “regrets that an agreement has not been reached today.” Yemen’s government blamed the Houthis. Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak, the foreign minister, said that Houthis had made a new ceasefire difficult. “The government made many concessions to extend the truce,” he said.