Houthi terrorists are reportedly holding at least nine Yemen-based employees of the United Nations “under unclear circumstances,” the Associated Press reported on Friday, citing local authorities.
The Houthis “face increasing financial pressure and airstrikes from a U.S.-led coalition,” per the AP. “Others working for aid groups also likely have been taken.”
Houthi terrorists have targeted ships in the Red Sea, claiming that they are responding to Israel’s war against the Hamas terror organization.
Per the AP, “regional officials” say that “staff from the U.N. human-rights agency, its development program, the World Food Program and one working for the office of its special envoy” are being held. “The wife of one of those held is also detained.”
The Mayyun Organization for Human Rights based in Aden, Yemen, condemned “in the strongest terms this dangerous escalation, which constitutes a violation of the privileges and immunities of United Nations employees granted to them under international law.”
The Aden-based group, which said that 18 people had been detained, added that “we consider it to be oppressive, totalitarian, blackmailing practices to obtain political and economic gains.”
The group said that international aid organization employees’ “homes were raided, they were interrogated inside and their mobile phones and computers were confiscated before they were taken aboard military vehicles to an unknown destination.”
