The Iran-backed Houthi rebel group raided the offices of the United Nation’s food and children’s agencies in Yemen’s capital on Sunday, detaining at least one employee, officials said.
Members of the terror group’s security force stormed the offices of the World Food Program and UNICEF in Sanaa, with the UN losing contact with several of their staffers and stoking fears that many more have been detained.
“WFP reiterates that the arbitrary detention of humanitarian staff is unacceptable,” Abeer Etefa, a spokesperson for the World Food Program, told the Associated Press.
Moammar al-Eryani, minister of information for the UN-backed government in Yemen, told local outlets that the Houthis also abducted guards working at the UNICEF offices.
Ammar Ammar, a spokesperson for UNICEF, said there was “an ongoing situation” in Sanna, but the children’s agency did not provide further details.
The raids come as the Houthis crack down on security across the capital following Israeli airstrikes late last week that killed the rebel group’s prime minister, Ahmed al-Rahawi’, along with several cabinet members.
The Houthis had vowed vengeance over the attack, which allegedly targeted the ministers while attending a routine workshop to assess their operations.
The rebel group has repeatedly targeted the UN for years, detaining dozens of staffers and other humanitarians who worked at the now-closed US embassy in Sanaa.
The UN had suspended its main operations in the besieged capital back in January when the rebels detained eight staffers.
The Houthis have ramped up their attacks on Israel since the conflict with Hamas began in 2023, the rebel group firing their first cluster bomb in two years this month targeting the Ben Gurion Airport, forcing millions into shelters.
The rebel group has maintained that its attacks on Israel and on merchant ships in the Red Sea will continue as a show of solidarity with Hamas.
“Our military approach of targeting the Israeli enemy, whether with missiles, drones or a naval blockade, is continuous, steady, and escalating,” Abdel-Karim al-Houthi, the group’s secretive leader, said in a televised speech Sunday.
With Post wires