The UN Security Council on Friday called for an end to cross-border and maritime attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militants and urged member states to beef up efforts to implement an arms embargo against them.
In a resolution renewing sanctions against the militants, the Council condemned the attacks and demanded an end to all such actions, "including those against infrastructure and civilian targets."
The text was adopted in a 13-0 vote, with permanent members China and Russia abstaining.
Targeted sanctions were extended until November 14, 2026, including a freezing of assets and travel bans currently in place against about 10 people, most of them high-ranking Houthi officials and the militia as a whole.
The text says that sanctions could now affect those who launch cross-border attacks from Yemeni territory using ballistic and cruise missile technology, or attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea or the Gulf of Aden.
Member states were asked to "increase efforts to combat the smuggling of weapons and components via land and sea routes, to ensure implementation of the targeted arms embargo."
The Houthis, who hail from Yemen's rugged north, have controlled large swathes of the country, including the capital Sanaa, for more than a decade.
The militants have frequently launched attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea.
The UN text called on the panel of experts tasked with monitoring the application of the embargo to present a report to the Council by mid-April with recommendations on the sale and transfer to Yemen of "dual-use components and precursor chemicals" that could fall into Houthi hands.
Council members also want the report to offer advice on improving information sharing on vessels suspected of carrying arms in violation of existing sanctions.
"The resolution will support the council's ability to monitor and therefore deter violations of the arms embargo," Britain's interim UN envoy James Kariuki said.
But several member states, notably the United States and France, lamented that the Council had not gone farther.
"We regret that the text adopted was not more ambitious and does not reflect the deterioration of the situation in Yemen over the past year," said France's deputy envoy Jay Dharmadhikari.
But veto-wielding China and Russia kept the council from further strengthening the sanctions.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, triggered by the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, the Houthis have increased the number of missile and drone attacks on Israeli soil and on ships in the Red Sea, claiming those actions were carried out in solidarity with Palestinians.
