Iran-backed Houthisraid UN offices in Yemen

Iran-backed Houthis on Sunday raided offices of the United Nations’ food, health and children’s agencies in Yemen’s capital, detaining 11 UN employees, officials said. The rebels tightened security across Sanaa following the Israeli killing of their prime minister and several Cabinet members.
Abeer Etefa, a spokesperson for the World Food Program, told The Associated Press that security forces raided the agencies’ offices in the Houthi-controlled capital on Sunday morning.
Also raided were offices of the World Health Organization and UNICEF, according to a UN official and a Houthi official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to brief the media. The UN official said armed forces raided the offices and questioned employees in the parking lot.
Ammar Ammar, a spokesperson for UNICEF, said a number of the agency’s staffers were detained, and UNICEF was seeking additional information from the Houthis.
Both Etefa and Ammar said their agencies were conducting “a comprehensive head count” of their employees in Sanaa and other Houthi-held areas.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres in a statement late Sunday said at least 11 personnel had been detained.
He condemned that and the “forced entry into the premises of the World Food Program, the seizure of UN property and attempts to enter other UN premises in Sanaa.” He called for the immediate and unconditional release of the personnel.
The raids were the latest in a long-running Houthi crackdown against the UN and other international organizations 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 Sanaa. The UN suspended its operations in the Houthi stronghold of Saada in northern Yemen after the rebels detained eight UN staffers in January.