{"id":162707,"date":"2025-09-01T00:01:31","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T00:01:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/houthis-detain-at-least-11-un-workers-in-raids-on-two-agencies-in-sanaa-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2025-09-01T00:01:31","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T00:01:31","slug":"houthis-detain-at-least-11-un-workers-in-raids-on-two-agencies-in-sanaa-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/houthis-detain-at-least-11-un-workers-in-raids-on-two-agencies-in-sanaa-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Houthis detain at least 11 UN workers in raids on two agencies in Sana\u2019a – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

UN condemns \u2018arbitrary detentions\u2019 by Iran-backed group at World Food Programme and Unicef offices in Yemen
The Iranian-backed Houthis raided offices of the UN\u2019s food, health and children\u2019s agencies in Yemen\u2019s capital, detaining at least 11 employees, as the rebels tightened security across Sana\u2019a after the Israeli killing of their prime minister<\/a> and several cabinet members.
The UN envoy for Yemen<\/a>, Hans Grundberg, said on Sunday evening: \u201cI strongly condemn the new wave of arbitrary detentions of UN personnel today in Sana\u2019a and Hodeidah \u2026 as well as the forced entry into UN premises and seizure of UN property. At least 11 UN personnel were detained.\u201d
He demanded that they be \u201cimmediately and unconditionally\u201d released.
Abeer Etefa, a spokesperson for the World Food Programme (WFP), earlier told the Associated Press that security forces raided the agencies\u2019 offices in the Houthi-controlled capital Sana\u2019a on Sunday morning.
She said at least one staff member was detained in the city and others reportedly detained in other areas.
\u201cWFP reiterates that the arbitrary detention of humanitarian staff is unacceptable,\u201d Etefa said.
The offices of the World Health Organization and Unicef were also raided, according to a UN official and a Houthi official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The UN official said armed forces raided the offices and questioned employees in the car park. He said contact with several other WFP and Unicef staff members were lost and that they were likely also detained.
Ammar Ammar, a spokesperson for Unicef, said a number of the agency\u2019s staff members were detained, and it was seeking additional information from the Houthis<\/a>.
Both Etefa and Ammar said their agencies were conducting \u201ca comprehensive head count\u201d of their employees in Sana\u2019a and other Houthi-held areas.
The raids were the latest in a long-running Houthi crackdown against the UN and other international organisations working in rebel-held areas in Yemen.
They have detained dozens of UN staffers, as well as people associated with aid groups, civil society and the now-closed US embassy in Sana\u2019a. The UN suspended its operations in the Houthi stronghold of Saada in northern Yemen after the rebels detained eight UN staff members in January.
Sunday\u2019s raids came after the killing of the Houthi prime minister and several of his cabinet members in an Israeli strike on Thursday.
It was a blow to the Iran-backed rebels who have launched attacks on Israel and ships in the Red Sea in relation against the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
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Among the dead were the prime minister, Ahmed al-Rahawi<\/a>; the foreign minister Gamal Amer; the deputy prime minister and minister of local development, Mohammed al-Medani; the electricity minister, Ali Seif Hassan; the tourism minister, Ali al-Yafei; and the information minister Hashim Sharafuldin, according to two Houthi officials and the victims\u2019 families.
Also killed was a powerful deputy interior minister, Abdel-Majed al-Murtada, the Houthi officials said.
They were targeted during a \u201croutine workshop held by the government to evaluate its activities and performance over the past year\u201d, a Houthi statement said on Saturday, two days after the strike.
The Houthis said a funeral for all those killed was scheduled for Monday in Sabeen Square in central Sana\u2019a.
The defence minister, Mohamed Nasser al-Atifi, survived the attack, while Abdel-Karim al-Houthi, the interior minister and one of the most powerful figures in the rebel group, did not attend the Thursday meeting, the Houthi officials said.
Thursday\u2019s strike came after the Houthis attacked Israel on 21 August with a ballistic missile that its military described as the first cluster bomb the rebels had launched at Israel since 2023. The missile, which the Houthis said was aimed at Ben Gurion airport, prompted air raid sirens across central Israel and Jerusalem, forcing millions into shelters.
The Houthis are likely to escalate their attacks on Israel and ships in the Red Sea, after they vowed in July to target merchant ships belonging to any company that does business with Israeli ports, regardless of nationality.
\u201cOur military approach of targeting the Israeli enemy, whether with missiles, drones or a naval blockade, is continuous, steady and escalating,\u201d al-Houthi, the group\u2019s secretive leader, said in a televised speech on Sunday.<\/p>\n

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UN condemns \u2018arbitrary detentions\u2019 by Iran-backed group at World Food Programme and Unicef offices in YemenThe Iranian-backed Houthis raided offices of the UN\u2019s food, health and children\u2019s agencies in Yemen\u2019s capital, detaining at least 11 employees, as the rebels tightened security across Sana\u2019a after the Israeli killing of their prime minister and several cabinet members.The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":162708,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-162707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}