Houthis detain 10 more United Nations staff in Yemen, bringing total to 69

Yemen’s Houthi authorities have detained 10 United Nations local staff members, the UN has said, in the latest move targeting international organisations operating in the country.

The group has detained dozens of UN staff and aid workers in recent years, accusing them of spying for the United States and Israel – charges that can carry the death penalty in Yemen.

The UN rejects the allegations.

“We can confirm the arbitrary detention today of 10 UN staff members by the Houthi de facto authorities in Sanaa, bringing the total number of UN detainees to 69,” Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said in a statement on Thursday.

The UN confirmed that all of the newly detained staff members are Yemeni nationals.

The Houthis have stepped up arrests of UN staff, diplomats and aid workers since Israel launched its genocidal war on Palestinians in Gaza in October 2023. Arrests have also intensified more recently after Israeli strikes in August killed Houthi Prime Minister Ahmed Ghaleb Nasser al-Rahawi.

The latest detentions came days after Guterres raised the issue of detained UN, diplomatic and NGO staff with Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq. Oman has played a key mediating role in Yemen’s conflict.

Last week, Guterres said some of the detained UN employees had been transferred to a special Houthi court, urging the group to reverse the decision and release them.

Last month, a Houthi court sentenced 17 people to death by firing squad on charges of spying for Israel, the US and Saudi Arabia, according to Houthi media.

Yemen’s war erupted in 2014 when Houthi fighters seized the capital, Sanaa, which they still control. A truce came into effect in 2022 and has largely held.

Ten years of civil war have plunged Yemen, the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country, into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, according to the UN.

Since October 2023, the Houthis have targeted vessels in the Red Sea and carried out drone and missile attacks against Israel, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians under fire.

Israel has regularly launched strikes on Yemen, hitting civilian infrastructure, including residential buildings and the country’s main international airport, and killing dozens of people at a time. Earlier this year, Israeli attacks on Sanaa and the northern province of al-Jawf killed dozens, including journalists and children.

In mid-September, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen was transferred from Sanaa to Aden, the seat of the internationally recognised Yemeni government.