Middle East

UN OCHA/Giles Clarke

UN rushes to deliver aid as key Yemeni port city is ‘shelled and bombarded’

14 June 2018
Peace and Security

As the Yemeni port city of Hodeida continues to come under attack from Saudi-led coalition forces on Thursday, seeking to drive out Houthi rebels who control the city, the United Nations and humanitarian partners are rushing to provide life-saving assistance to thousands of vulnerable families there.

OCHA/Giles Clarke

Military escalation will have ‘serious consequences’ for Yemeni civilians, warns UN Special Envoy

13 June 2018
Peace and Security

An attempt by a Saudi-led military coalition to take control of the Yemeni port of Hodeida from opposition Houthi forces “will have serious consequences” on an already “dire” situation for millions of civilians, the UN Special Envoy for Yemen said on Wednesday.

UNICEF/Giovanni Diffidenti

‘Highly explosive’ escalation of conflict and displacement across Syria’s Idlib, says top UN official

11 June 2018
Humanitarian Aid

The situation inside Syria’s Idlib threatens to become “highly explosive” amid an uptick in conflict between armed groups and a spike in the number of people displaced inside the war-torn country, a top UN aid official said on Monday.

UN Photo/Elma Okic

Force used against protestors in Gaza ‘wholly disproportionate’ says UN human rights chief

18 May 2018
Human Rights

A special session of the UN Human Rights Council has ended with a resolution by Member States to investigate weeks of violence on the Israeli border with Gaza, which has claimed the lives of more than 100 people in the enclave and left thousands wounded.

Save the Children/Mohamed N Ali

Gaza medics ‘struggling to cope with influx of wounded’: UN agencies

15 May 2018
Human Rights

Medical teams inside Gaza are running out of supplies to cope with the wounded, following the deadliest day of protests against occupation along the border with Israel so far this year, UN aid agencies warned on Tuesday.

IAEA/Dean Calma

Iran deal represents ‘significant verification gain’ – UN atomic energy chief

9 May 2018
Peace and Security

Speaking the day after the United States withdrew from an international agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme, the head of the United Nations atomic watchdog agency made it clear that Iran has consistently stuck to its commitments.

Giles Clarke/UN OCHA

As conditions worsen in Yemen, new UN envoy hopes to rekindle peace talks

17 April 2018
Peace and Security

The new United Nations envoy for war-torn Yemen called Tuesday for all parties to the conflict to abandon preconditions and begin negotiations, and said he would offer a new framework for talks within the next two months.

UN Multimedia

Syria: Children, families killed by airstrikes, shelling in Afrin – UN

16 March 2018
Peace and Security

Dozens of children have been killed since fighting began in the north-western Syrian town of Afrin, where people are under bombardment, hospitals have been shut down and water supplies cut off, the United Nations has reported.

UN Photo/Loey Felipe

UN can help, but Yemen’s warring parties must make concessions, commit to peace – outgoing UN envoy

27 February 2018
Peace and Security

A destructive pattern of zero-sum politics has plunged Yemen into ever deeper poverty and desolation, the United Nations envoy for the war-torn country said Tuesday, emphasizing that while the UN and the wider international community can try to bring about a favourable environment for a path to peace, Yemeni decision-makers must stop the fighting and bloodshed.

Photo: Pasqual Gorriz/UN

UN peacekeeping chief wraps up three-day visit to Lebanon

27 February 2018
Peace and Security

The head of United Nations Peacekeeping Operations has wrapped up a visit to Lebanon with a call on leaders from Lebanon as well as Israel to take advantage of the role UN peacekeeping can play in finding political solutions to conflict.