Houthis

The United Nations' humanitarian aid official in Yemen said Jan. 16 that the civilian death toll in the nearly two-year conflict has reached 10,000, with 40,000 others wounded.

The Russian ambassador to Yemen has been shot and killed in Sanaa, according to reports coming from the Arab kingdom.

Vladimir Dedushkin was reportedly “keeping a close eye” in the war-torn country.

The diplomat was reportedly assassinated in the capital Sanaa.

The assassination was reported by Saudi Arabia’s Barq news agency.

The White House has blocked the transfer of precision munitions to ally Saudi Arabia, amid anger about the civilian death toll from the kingdom's bombing campaign in Yemen.

The formation of a new government by Yemen's armed Houthi movement and its political allies will hinder peace efforts in the country, the U.N. special envoy to Yemen said on Nov. 29. 

The move, reported by the Houthi-run state news agency on Nov. 28, has been seen as a blow to U.N.-backed efforts to end 20 months of war in Yemen. 

Yemen saw a rare respite from fighting on Nov. 20, the second day of a 48-hour cease-fire that followed a U.S. push to halt a conflict that has wrought devastation and killed thousands.

The United Nations' humanitarian chief says that if the warring parties in Yemen do not reach a peace agreement soon, the country could collapse with menacing consequences for the entire region, while the U.N. envoy for Yemen said both parties in the conflict had rejected his peace plan but he would return back to try to clinch a peace deal in the coming weeks.

Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi on Oct. 29 rejected a U.N. peace proposal for his war-battered country, as air strikes by his Saudi-led coalition allies killed at least 60 rebels, inmates, and civilians. 

The warring parties in Yemen have agreed to a 72-hour cease-fire that will take effect shortly before midnight on Oct. 19, the U.N. special envoy to Yemen said.
Special Envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said he hopes the temporary truce can lead to "permanent and lasting end to the conflict."

"They hit everything, hospitals, orphanages, schools," Hisham al-Omeisy told The Guardian newspaper six months ago. "You live in constant fear that your kids' school could be the next target."

The U.S. military launched cruise missile strikes on Oct. 13 to knock out three coastal radar sites in areas of Yemen controlled by Iran-aligned Houthi forces, retaliating after failed missile attacks this week on a U.S. Navy destroyer, U.S. officials said.