The rebel group arrested 20 aid workers following a raid on a compound in Sanaa, a United Nations spokesman has said<\/p>\n
Houthi rebels detained United Nations staffers in Yemen\u2019s capital, Sanaa, on Sunday, UN spokesman Jean Alam has said.
\nThe militant group previously accused aid workers of spying for the US and Israel, allegations the UN has denied.
\nAlam said 20 employees of various UN agencies, including 16 foreign nationals, were detained during a raid on the organization\u2019s compound in the Hada district. He added that 11 others were released after questioning.
\nAFP cited an unnamed UN official as saying that UNICEF\u2019s envoy in Yemen, Peter Hawkins, is among those detained. AP reported that the Houthis confiscated all electronic devices, including computers and phones.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe UN is in contact with the Houthis and other parties to resolve this serious situation as swiftly as possible, end the detention of all personnel, and restore full control over its facilities in Sanaa,\u201d Alam said.
\nIn a televised address on Saturday, Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said the militants had dismantled what he described as a \u201cdangerous espionage network\u201d linked to the CIA and Mossad, claiming that the UN World Food Programme and UNICEF had been used as cover for \u201csubversive operations.\u201d
\nStephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, dismissed the accusations as \u201cdangerous and unacceptable\u201d and called for the release of all aid workers.
\nThe Houthis, who control a large portion of Yemen, have launched drones and missiles at Israel and attacked commercial shipping in the Red Sea in response to the war in Gaza. Israel, the US, and UK have responded with airstrikes on Houthi-linked targets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The rebel group arrested 20 aid workers following a raid on a compound in Sanaa, a United Nations spokesman has said Houthi rebels detained United Nations staffers in Yemen\u2019s capital,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17108,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t