UK tells Security Council that Houthis bear full responsibility for Yemen escalation
Yemen Herald News 
NEW YORK, United States — The United Kingdom condemned the Houthis’ decision to resume the war in Yemen and their strikes on Saudi Arabia at the Security Council on Thursday.
Ambassador Kate Foster, Britain’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, delivered the statement at a Council meeting on Yemen.
Foster said Britain had joined Bahrain in calling for the urgent session.
She condemned the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, including what she described as the targeting of civilian and energy infrastructure, and called on the group to stop immediately.
“The Houthis bear full responsibility for this crisis,” Foster said.
She offered condolences to those killed, injured and affected, and said Britain stood with Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government.
Foster said Saudi Arabia and Yemen have the right to defend their security and sovereignty in accordance with international law.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office published the transcript the same day.
The Houthis have not responded publicly to the British statement. They have rejected similar characterisations in the past, describing their operations as a response to Saudi and Western action.
Foster said the attacks threaten freedom of navigation, transit passage and trade routes through the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb.
She said a Houthi advance toward Bab al-Mandeb would raise risks to international shipping and global trade through the waterway, and that developing countries would feel the effect first.
On humanitarian conditions, Foster said more than 22 million Yemenis require assistance and more than 18 million face acute food insecurity.
Those figures match the United Nations humanitarian needs and response plan for Yemen published in March.
Foster said the Houthis’ detention of United Nations and non-governmental organisation staff is obstructing relief work.
She called for the unconditional release of detained personnel from non-governmental organisations, civil society and diplomatic missions, and of 73 detained United Nations staff.
Foster said Iran’s support for the Houthis continues to fuel instability in Yemen. Iran denies arming the group.
She urged full implementation of Security Council resolutions 2140 and 2216, including measures against transfers of arms, military support and dual-use components.
Resolution 2140 was adopted in 2014 and created the sanctions regime for Yemen. Resolution 2216 followed in 2015 and imposed an arms embargo on Houthi leaders.
Foster said Britain supports the work of the United Nations special envoy, Hans Grundberg, and urged the Houthis to return to the peace process.
The session followed attacks on southern Saudi Arabia on Sept. 8.
Saudi officials said more than 70 people were wounded and fires broke out at oil and utility sites in Abha, Jazan, Najran and Khamis Mushait. Operations at some energy facilities were halted.
Royal Saudi Air Force Col. Turki al-Malki said the coalition would take what he called all necessary operational measures to deter the group.
The attacks followed weeks of fighting between the Houthis and government forces that ended a truce which had largely held for four years.
Grundberg said this week that the strikes risk widening the conflict beyond Yemen’s borders and put civilians at grave risk.
The same United Nations plan put the number of acutely malnourished children under five at more than 2.2 million, of whom 516,157 are severely malnourished, and the number of internally displaced people at 5.2 million.
It sought 2.16 billion dollars to reach 12 million people this year.
Bab al-Mandeb separates Yemen from Djibouti and Eritrea and narrows to about 30 kilometres. Traffic through it feeds the Red Sea approach to the Suez Canal.
Shipping through the corridor fell sharply after Houthi attacks on merchant vessels began in late 2023, and many operators rerouted around southern Africa.
Rashad al-Alimi, chairman of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, said this week that any attempt to change the military situation near Bab al-Mandeb could not be treated as a Yemeni matter alone, because the strait is an international passage.
Fighting has concentrated on the western coast of Taiz governorate and around Hodeidah in recent weeks.
The International Organization for Migration recorded 30,378 people displaced inside Yemen this year, with Taiz fighting driving recent movement.
Yemen’s government, which is internationally recognised and based in Aden, has said it will restore state control over its coastline and ports.
The account of Foster’s remarks rests on the transcript published by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, which states it reproduces the speech as delivered. Yemen Herald did not obtain an independent recording of the session.
Her characterisations of Houthi responsibility and of Iranian support are the British government’s, and the Houthi administration in Sanaa and the Iranian government both reject them.
Britain is a permanent member of the Security Council and a member of the Quad grouping on Yemen alongside the United States, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The Council took no formal action at Thursday’s meeting.
Foster’s statement was one of several issued this week. The Netherlands, the European Union, Russia and the United States have each commented on the escalation.
Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen posted his own condemnation on the social platform X on Sept. 9. United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the Houthis as acting as agents of Iran.
Bahrain, which joined Britain in requesting the session, is not a permanent member of the Council.
Foster set out her remarks in three parts.
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