Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi rebels raided United Nations offices in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Sunday and detained at least 11 U.N. personnel, the body said.
Sanaa, Yemen © Mena Today
Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi rebels raided United Nations offices in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Sunday and detained at least 11 U.N. personnel, the body said.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the Houthis forcibly entered World Food Programme premises, seized U.N. property and attempted to enter other U.N. offices in the capital.
The raid followed an Israeli strike on Sanaa on Thursday that killed the prime minister of Yemen's Houthi-run government and several other ministers.
U.N. Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg said in a separate statement that the 11 staff were detained in both Sanaa and the port city of Hodeidah.
UNICEF, the U.N. Development Programme and the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees are among other U.N. agencies with offices in one or both of the two cities.
Grundberg said the detentions were in addition to 23 other U.N. staff previously detained, some since 2021, and one who died in detention this year.
Reporting by Michelle Nichols, Mohammed Ghobari, Yazhini MV and Rhea Rose Abraham
More than 200,000 people have been displaced from their homes since fighting in Yemen began in recent weeks, according to data released on Wednesday by the United Nations' International Organization for Migration.
Houthis attacked the international airport in the southern Yemeni town of Aden with ballistic missiles and explosive-laden drones early on Wednesday, Yemen's Transport Ministry said, as fighting intensified across several fronts between the Iran-aligned group and Saudi-backed government forces.
Israelis will on Wednesday mark three years since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, triggering a military assault that destroyed much of Gaza, where conditions remain dire despite a year-old ceasefire that is meant to halt the war for good.
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