Iranian-backed Houthi rebels detained around two dozen United Nations employees in Yemen\u2019s capital Sanaa on Sunday, in what UN officials described as a serious escalation of the rebels\u2019 crackdown on international organisations operating in areas under their control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Iranian-backed Houthi rebels detained two dozen United Nations employees on Sunday \u2014 a day after raiding another UN facility in Yemen\u2019s capital, Sanaa \u2014 a UN official said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jean Alam, spokesman for the UN resident co-ordinator in Yemen, told The Associated Press that the staff members were held inside the agency\u2019s compound in Sanaa\u2019s south-western Hada neighbourhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those detained include five Yemeni nationals and 15 international staff, Alam said, adding that the rebels released another 11 UN employees after questioning.<\/p>\n\n\n\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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A second UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the raid, said the rebels confiscated all communications equipment from the compound \u2014 including phones, servers and computers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The detained employees work for several UN agencies, including the World Food Programme, UNICEF and the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The Houthis have waged a long-running crackdown against the UN and other international organisations operating in rebel-held areas of Yemen, including Sanaa, the Red Sea port city of Hodeida and the northern stronghold of Saada province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dozens of people \u2014 including more than 50 UN employees \u2014 have been detained so far. Earlier this year, a World Food Programme worker died in detention in Saada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rebels have repeatedly alleged, without evidence, that detained UN staff and employees of other international groups and foreign embassies were spies \u2014 accusations the UN has strongly denied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The crackdown has already forced the UN to suspend its operations in Saada province following the detention of eight staff members in January. The organisation also relocated its top humanitarian co-ordinator for Yemen from Sanaa to the southern city of Aden, which serves as the seat of the internationally recognised government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Iranian-backed Houthi rebels detained around two dozen United Nations employees in Yemen\u2019s capital Sanaa on Sunday, in what UN officials described as a serious escalation of the rebels\u2019 crackdown on international organisations operating in areas under their control. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels detained two dozen United Nations employees on Sunday \u2014 a day after raiding another […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35588"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35590,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35588\/revisions\/35590"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}