12 UN workers allowed to leave Yemen after detention by Houthi rebels, UN says

NEW YORK — Twelve international United Nations employees who had been held by Yemen’s Houthi rebels inside their compound flew out of the rebel-held capital on Wednesday, the UN said.

The Iran-backed Houthis raided the UN compound in the capital Sanaa last weekend, holding 20 staff, including 15 foreigners. Five Yemeni nationals were released on Sunday.

The rebels have harassed and detained UN staff and aid workers for years, accusing them of spying, but they have accelerated arrests since the start of the Gaza war.

“Earlier today, 12 UN international staff who were amongst those previously held in the UN compound in Yemen departed Sanaa on a UN Humanitarian Air Service flight,” said a statement released by UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres’s spokesperson.

Their destination was not revealed. The three remaining staff are now “free to move or travel,” the UN said.

Among those detained was UNICEF’s representative in Yemen, Peter Hawkins, a UN source and Houthi sources told AFP at the time.

Rebel leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi has accused the detained UN employees of having a hand in a major Israeli airstrike in August that killed the Houthis’ premier and nearly half of his cabinet, though he has not provided evidence. The UN has rejected the claim.

The rebels stormed UN offices in Sanaa on August 31, detaining more than 11 employees, it said.

A senior Houthi official told AFP the UN staff were suspected of spying for the United States and Israel.

In mid-September, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Yemen was transferred from Sanaa to Aden, the interim capital of the internationally recognized government.

A total of 53 UN workers are still arbitrarily detained by the Houthis, according to UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.

The Iran-aligned Houthis have controlled most of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, since seizing power in 2014 and early 2015. The United Nations has repeatedly rejected Houthi accusations that UN staff or UN operations in Yemen were involved in spying. Dujarric last week described the accusations as “extremely worrying.”

The Houthis — whose slogan calls for “Death to America, Death to Israel, [and] a Curse on the Jews” — began attacking Israel and maritime traffic in November 2023, a month after the October 7 Hamas massacre in southern Israel that launched the war in Gaza.

The group has fired over 130 ballistic missiles and dozens of drones and cruise missiles at Israel, including one that killed a civilian and wounded several others in Tel Aviv in July 2024.

In response, Israel has attacked the Houthis, located some 1,800 kilometers (1,100 miles) away, 19 times.

The Houthis’ leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, said following the announcement of a Gaza ceasefire last week that the group would resume its attacks on Israel if they deem Jerusalem has failed to hold up its side of the deal.