UN Security Council to Vote on Yemen Arms Embargo

The United Nations Security Council is due to vote Tuesday on a draft resolution that would impose an arms embargo on the leaders of Yemen’s Houthi rebels and demand the group withdraw from Sana’a and other areas it has captured.

The measure drafted by Jordan and Arab Gulf countries would also impose a travel ban and an asset freeze on rebel leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi as well as Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh, the son of Yemen’s former president who supports the Houthis.

The council has already imposed those bans against the former president and two senior Houthi leaders.  The new resolution would place the arms embargo on all five men.

It was not clear ahead of the vote whether Russia would use its veto power as one of the five permanent Security Council members in order to block the measure.  Russia argued that the arms ban should apply to all parties in the conflict.

The Saudi-led coalition kept up its airstrike campaign against Houthi militias and their allies in Yemen, targeting a sports stadium in Aden on Saturday, a spokesman for the coalition said on Monday.

Iran-allied Houthi militias are still using schools and sport stadiums for the storage of military equipment storage, according to a coalition spokesman.

“The infrastructure is one of the points which we are seeking to keep it safe in order to take advantage of it.  But now the situation has become critical and we must not let these militias take advantage of these facilities. They are using the stadiums and schools as military storage so we must not give them a chance to take advantage of them to reorganize their operations,” said coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri.

The operation by Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Muslim states is aimed at stopping the Iranian-allied Houthis and former president Ali Abdullah Saleh from winning control of Yemen. The coalition wants to reinstate Saudi-backed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

As the fighting continued Monday, aid group Doctors Without Borders said it airlifted 15 tons of supplies into Sana’a and was working to establish additional supply routes by sea to the southern port city of Aden.

The head of the group’s mission in Yemen, Marie-Elisabeth Ingres, said moving the supplies into Yemen is only the first step.

“Getting aid into the country is only part of the challenge,” said Ingres. “Due to the fighting and insecurity within Yemen, we are also facing difficulties assessing the needs and deploying staff and supplies to the areas where the needs are greatest.”

The fighting in Yemen has killed more than 600 people and forced 100,000 people from their homes.