Why the UN fails to force the Houthis lift the siege on Taiz

UN still acts as if 1. Houthis have any legitimacy in Yemen or 2. They have a military superiority, when in fact they are losing ground all over the country, have suffered heavy military losses, and engaged in a truce primarily to save themselves from being destroyed in battle.
 
Part of the reason is that UN has no physical forces to threaten Houthis with reprisals; part of it is that some UN agencies have been linked to corrupt mismanagement of humanitarian funding and to delivery of illicit weapons to the Houthis, or even to their use of UN ambulances for delivery of firearms and fighters in violation of international humanitarian law.
 
In reality, UN's intervention has been part of the reason for the conflict being extended as far as it has. It refuses to put any pressure such as sanctions on the Iran-backed proxies as if siege on civilian areas could ever be justified.
 
Again, some of this may be due to Iran's corrupt influence within the interantional organization and to some extent may be facilitated by international NGOs operating on the ground who view Houthis as their Point of Contact and find even a siege preferable to trying to figure out how to deal with different factions in the event Houthis stop being a problem.
 
Indeed, the international community prefers the reality of totalitarian dominance by a radical faction to the chaos of potential sectarian conflicts or even more democratic institution building. Having Houthis administer in place, even if it is destructive, absolves the UN from the necessity of figuring out the logistics of aid delivery and complex negotiations over various questions.
 
Houthis, for their own part, see sieges over areas like Taiz, as strategic leverage against anyone who would wish to oust them and so far as they themeselves capable of maintaining control, have no incentive to give it up.
 
Irina Tsukerman, is a NY- based human rights lawyer & national security analyst.