SANAA: Yemen’s Houthi rebels detained at least 11 United Nations staff members in raids on UN premises in Sanaa and Hodeida, the UN confirmed Sunday, in a crackdown that followed an Israeli airstrike killing the group’s prime minister, Ahmed Ghaleb Nasser al-Rahawi.
UN envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg condemned the arrests as a “new wave of arbitrary detentions” and demanded the staff be released “immediately and unconditionally.” He noted that the Houthis were already holding 23 UN personnel, some since 2021 and 2023, in addition to eight detained earlier this year.
The World Food Programme (WFP) said one of its employees was among those seized in Sanaa and urged clarification, calling the detentions “unacceptable.” According to AFP, seven WFP staff and three UNICEF workers were among those arrested in Sunday’s raids.
Houthi authorities, who control much of Yemen after seizing Sanaa in 2014, have repeatedly accused aid groups of working as “an American-Israeli spy network”—claims the UN has rejected. A security source said dozens of others were also detained across rebel-held areas on suspicion of collaborating with Israel.
The crackdown comes after Israel’s strike on Friday killed Rahawi, the most senior Houthi leader to die since the Gaza war began. The Iran-backed group has since vowed to escalate attacks on Israel.
Yemen’s war has already plunged the country into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with more than half the population relying on aid. Past detentions have forced the UN to scale back operations, and Sunday’s arrests raise fresh fears for humanitarian access in the country.
