The UN's Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, will end his three-year tenure as the international body's special envoy for Yemen without achieving any real breakthrough in the security crisis ravaging the war-torn country.
Front-runners to replace the outgoing special envoy for the conflict-ridden nation include the European Union ambassador to Yemen, Hans Grundberg.
Nevertheless, given the long history of three special envoys accomplishing so little in their attempts to convince Houthi militias to quit the war, head for a political settlement, and restore transition, any successor to take over after Griffiths will face the same immense challenges their predecessors met in terms of intransigence shown by the Iran-backed group.
Many observers believe that after the bad experience they had with former UN envoys, who held Moroccan, Mauritian, and British nationalities, Houthis are likely to press on with obstructing peace initiatives regardless of how strongly the international community backs the new envoy.
According to Yemeni politicians, having missed many opportunities to establish peace, Houthis probably will not give up gains they found through their armed insurgency in exchange for reconciliation.
Houthis had turned down two intensely-backed comprehensive solution settlements, one of which was spearheaded by former special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh and the other of which led by Griffiths with unprecedented backing from Washington and the West.
With the diminishing chances of future international efforts, many of Yemen's internationally recognized government supporters believe that the solution lies in defeating the Houthi militias militarily.
In their opinion, only losing on the battlefield would push the Iran-aligned militia towards peace and away from Tehran's expansionist agenda in the region.
This would also help Houthis assimilate with other parties in Yemen as a political player, not a belligerent bully armed to the teeth.
