Local Editor
The UN Security Council convened Tuesday to discuss the crisis in Yemen amid growing concern over the deteriorating situation and calls for the parties to re-engage in the political process, diplomats said.
The meeting was held behind closed doors at Britain's request.
Special envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths, briefing the council via videoconference, "reiterated the importance of stopping the ongoing military escalation before it is too late," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said later.
"He warned that recent developments jeopardize the progress the parties had made on de-escalation and confidence building," the spokesman added.
The UN welcomed the Houthis' release earlier in the day in Sana’a of 64 children captured during military operations.
One diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the council would be issuing a statement urging the belligerents to return to the table and expressing its concern over the situation facing civilians. The UN has called it "the world's worst humanitarian crisis."
Clashes between the Yemeni army and Hadi loyalists resumed on January 19 after months of relative calm.
On Saturday, the army seized control of a strategic highway east of Sana’a, pursuing their offensive to the north and east of the Yemeni capital.
The war, which began in 2015, pits the Yemeni army backed by the popular committees and the Houthi Ansarullah revolutionaries against forces loyal to Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi that are backed by a Saudi-led military coalition.
The war has claimed tens of thousands of lives, most of them civilians, according to non-governmental groups.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
