SANAA, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, on Wednesday warned that the military escalation in the Red Sea linked to the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza has negative impact on the peace efforts in Yemen.

"Rising regional tensions linked to the war in Gaza, and in particular the military escalation in the Red Sea, are slowing down the pace of peace efforts in Yemen," Grundberg said in a live briefing to the UN Security Council.

The UN envoy said Yemen's rival parties vowed to operationalize commitments through a UN roadmap agreement in December last year, including a nationwide ceasefire, measures to improve living conditions, and restarting an intra-Yemeni political process.

"Mediation efforts in Yemen cannot be neatly cordoned off. What happens regionally impacts Yemen, and what happens in Yemen can impact the region," he said.

Grundberg pointed out that the scale of economic challenges across the country is staggering. Civil servants, especially in Houthi-controlled areas, haven't been paid salaries in full, and people in government-controlled areas face extended power outages and rising prices.

The Houthi group, which controls much of the northern populous area, has escalated attacks on commercial vessels and navy ships of Israel, the United States, and Britain since mid-November last year, in what the group said in support of Palestinians against Israeli war in Gaza.

On Tuesday, Houthi leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi said in a televised speech that he has "no intention" to sabotage submarine internet cables in the Red Sea, a critical component in the global digital infrastructure, but he vowed to continue missile attacks against Israeli, U.S., and British ships transiting the Red Sea until Israel stops war on Gaza.

The military escalation in the Red Sea has forced major shipping companies to re-route around the African continent, causing prices of shipping and goods to increase dramatically.

According to daily reports aired by Houthi-run al-Masirah TV, the Houthi group has recruited thousands of Yemeni tribal youths since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on Oct. 7, 2023.

The Houthis trained those youths and equipped them with new weapons, telling them to get ready to go to the frontlines to fight "pro-U.S. Yemeni government forces," said the reports.

The Yemeni government army controls all oil-rich provinces and cordoned off all Houthi-controlled northern provinces.

The United Nations has been trying to bring Yemen's rival parties to negotiations since the start of the civil war in late 2014, when the Houthis stormed and seized several northern provinces, forcing the Yemeni government out of the capital Sanaa. Enditem

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