The United States' ambassador to Yemen on Thursday called on Yemen's Houthi group to immediately release the detained staff of international organisations including employees of the U.S. embassy in Sanaa.
The Iran-aligned Houthis detained 11 United Nations personnel in Yemen last week, according to U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric © Mena Today
The United States' ambassador to Yemen on Thursday called on Yemen's Houthi group to immediately release the detained staff of international organisations including employees of the U.S. embassy in Sanaa.
The Iran-aligned Houthis detained 11 United Nations personnel in Yemen last week, according to U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
On Thursday, the U.S. ambassador condemned the detentions and called them "shocking".
"The Houthis owe all of these Yemenis thanks, not false accusations and imprisonment. The people of Yemen deserve better than fanciful Houthi lies meant to bolster their abusive and autocratic rule," ambassador Steven Fagin said in a statement.
The staff members - all Yemenis - were swept up by armed Houthi intelligence officials in a series of raids that also resulted in the detention of three employees of the U.S.-funded pro-democracy group National Democratic Institute (NDI) and three employees of a local human rights group.
The Houthis have held around 20 Yemeni employees of the U.S. embassy in Sanaa for the past three years. The embassy suspended operations after Yemen's civil war erupted in 2014 and Houthis seized control of the capital.
The U.S. mission to Yemen is currently located in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh.
Yemen's Houthis said on Monday they had targeted an alleged "American-Israeli spy cell" that included former staff of the U.S. embassy in Yemen, according to a television statement from Abdel Hakim Al Khaiwani, the Houthis' intelligence chief.
"The American-Israeli spy cell carried out espionage and sabotage activities in official and unofficial institutions for decades in favour of the enemy," he said.
The Houthis, who are aligned with Iran, have attacked shipping in the Red Sea in what they say are acts of solidarity with Palestinians amid the Gaza war, drawing airstrikes from the United States and Britain.
Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari
The United States launched on Wednesday its first airstrikes in the Middle East since suspending its bombing campaign last week, hitting Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq jointly with Saudi Arabia, while Tehran spurned an Omani plan to manage the Strait of Hormuz.
Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday that its air defenses intercepted and destroyed several drones that attempted to target oil facilities in the kingdom's Eastern Province.
Iran on Tuesday executed two men for their role in nationwide protests in January, state media reported, among a series of death sentences that rights groups say have been handed out since the start of the war with the United States.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.