UNITED NATIONS/KUWAIT CITY/SANAA – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday that fighting must stop on all fronts in the Middle East.

"The fighting must stop on all fronts in the region. International navigation rights and freedoms in and around the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab must be fully restored. And diplomacy must prevail," Guterres told reporters.

Six months into the military escalation in the Gulf, what began as a regional conflict is increasingly becoming a driver of global instability, he warned.

The UN chief noted that trade through the Strait of Hormuz has collapsed, energy markets have been upended, prices of food and key fertilizers have surged, and supply chains are buckling.

"Around the world we see families struggling to put food on the table, farmers unable to afford basic inputs, and vulnerable countries pushed closer to the edge," said Guterres.

The World Food Programme warned that as many as 45 million people could face acute food insecurity as a result, while rising prices and slowing growth threaten to push millions more back into poverty, he noted.

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He called the US announcement of an agreement for Hamas to relinquish its weapons and for Israel to withdraw its forces from Gaza "good news".

"It was announced already that there is a roadmap to implement these objectives. That roadmap must be followed without any questions, skepticism, or determination to undermine it. Now is the time for both sides to implement what was agreed," said Guterres. 

'Hostile drones' entering Kuwaiti airspace

Separately, the Kuwait Army said Friday on social media platform X that "hostile drones" entering Kuwaiti airspace since dawn, which targeted several vital and military facilities, have been detected and destroyed.

The falling debris caused material damage, with no casualties reported, it said, attributing the attacks to Iran.

It did not specify the number of drones destroyed, the targeted sites, or the extent of the damage.

Houthi group: Eight Saudi oil tankers changed course

Also on Friday, Yemen's Houthi group claimed that eight Saudi oil tankers had been forced to change course under its maritime ban targeting Saudi-linked shipping in the Red Sea.

In a statement posted on X, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said the tankers had been rerouted toward the Cape of Good Hope "as part of the 'blockade for blockade' strategy", which he attributed to the group's intensified enforcement of its naval blockade on Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea.

Sarea said the group's forces would continue enforcing the blockade against Saudi Arabia and warned that Saudi-linked vessels would remain subject to attack "wherever possible".

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The latest claim comes amid rapidly escalating tensions between Yemen's Houthi group and Saudi Arabia. On July 20, the Houthis announced what they described as a maritime ban on Saudi-linked shipping in the Red Sea, saying the move was in response to an alleged Saudi blockade on areas under their control.