UN raises number of staff detained by Yemen’s Houthis to 19

UNITED NATIONS — At least 19 UN employees have been detained by Iranian-backed Houthis during raids on UN offices in Yemen’s capital, the United Nations says, a higher number than originally reported.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric says 18 of those being held are Yemeni staffers and one is an international employee. He calls for all to be released immediately.

Sunday’s raids on offices of the United Nations’ food, health and children’s agencies in Sanaa followed Israel’s killing of Houthi Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi and several cabinet ministers in an airstrike on Thursday.

The Houthis have been engaged in a civil war with Yemen’s internationally recognized government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, since 2014, when they took control of Sanaa and most of northern Yemen.

The raids were the latest in a long-running Houthi crackdown on the UN and other international organizations as well as diplomats working in rebel-held areas. Dujarric says the Houthis previously had detained 23 UN employees, holding some since 2021.

UN special envoy Hans Grundberg just ended a visit to Oman’s capital, Muscat, where he met Houthi chief negotiator Mohammed Abdelsalam and representatives of the diplomatic community, the UN spokesman says;

Dujarric says the envoy reiterated the UN’s strong condemnation of the detentions and forced entry into its offices, warning that the Houthi action seriously endangers the UN’s ability to deliver aid to the people of Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country.