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Houthi authorities in Yemen's rebel-controlled capital have detained seven Yemeni nationals working for the United Nations on accusations of espionage for Israel, a security official said Friday, marking the latest escalation in a years-long campaign of harassment against international aid workers.
"Seven United Nations employees, all of them Yemenis, have been arrested from late last night until this afternoon on charges of spying for Israel," a Sanaa-based security source told AFP. A second Houthi source confirmed the arrests but declined to provide details on the number detained.
The United Nations did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the detentions.
The arrests follow the release earlier this week of 20 UN staff members, including 15 foreigners, who had been confined to their compound since a raid last weekend. While the Houthis have harassed and detained UN staff and aid workers for years on espionage allegations, such arrests have intensified since the Gaza war began in Oct. 2023.
Yemen's internationally recognized government, based in the interim capital of Aden, condemned the new detentions as an escalation. The Aden-based administration stands in opposition to the Houthi rebels who control Sanaa and much of northern Yemen.
Earlier this month, Houthi leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi publicly accused UN employees of participating in a devastating August airstrike, though he offered no evidence to support the claim. The Israeli attack killed the Houthis' premier and nearly half of his cabinet. The United Nations has rejected the allegations.
In mid-September, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Yemen was transferred from Sanaa to Aden.
The Houthis, aligned with Iran's "axis of resistance" against Israel and the United States, have repeatedly attacked commercial vessels in the Red Sea and launched strikes at Israeli territory throughout the two-year Gaza conflict, citing solidarity with Palestinians. Israel has conducted numerous retaliatory strikes in response to the Houthi attacks.
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