UN ups number of staff detained by Yemen’s Houthis to 19

Houthi security personnel stand guard at the site of a rally by followers of the Houthi movement to commemorate the death of Imam Zaid, a central and revered figure for Zaidi Shiites, in Sanaa, Yemen July 20, 2025. (REUTERS)
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Updated 03 September 2025
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UN ups number of staff detained by Yemen’s Houthis to 19

  • The Houthis have been engaged in a civil war with Yemen’s internationally recognized government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, since 2014, when they took control of Sanaa and most of northern Yemen

UNITED NATIONS: At least 19 UN employees were detained by Iranian-backed Houthis during raids on UN offices in Yemen’s capital, the United Nations said Tuesday, a higher number than originally reported.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said 18 of those being held are Yemeni staffers and one is an international employee. He called for all to be released immediately.
Sunday’s raids on offices of the United Nations’ food, health and children’s agencies in Sanaa followed Israel’s killing of Houthi Prime Minister Ahmed Al-Rahawi and several Cabinet ministers in an airstrike on Thursday.
The Houthis have been engaged in a civil war with Yemen’s internationally recognized government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, since 2014, when they took control of Sanaa and most of northern Yemen.
Hopes for peace talks vanished after the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which led to Israel’s retaliatory war in Hamas-run Gaza. The Houthis started attacking ships in the Red Sea in support of Palestinians in Gaza. That sparked US and Israeli retaliatory strikes in areas the rebels control in Yemen.
The raids were the latest in a long-running Houthi crackdown on the UN and other international organizations as well as diplomats working in rebel-held areas. Dujarric said the Houthis previously had detained 23 UN employees, holding some since 2021.
UN special envoy Hans Grundberg just ended a visit to Oman’s capital, Muscat, where he met Houthi chief negotiator Mohammed Abdelsalam and representatives of the diplomatic community, the UN spokesman said.
Dujarric said the envoy reiterated the UN’s strong condemnation of the detentions and forced entry into its offices, warning that the Houthi action seriously endangers the UN’s ability to deliver aid to the people of Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country.

 


Lebanon says two dead in Israeli strikes

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Lebanon says two dead in Israeli strikes

  • Lebanon’s health ministry: An ‘Israeli enemy strike on a vehicle on the Jadra-Siblin road in the Shouf district killed one person and wounded five others’
  • one person was killed in an Israeli strike on a vehicle in Odaisseh near the border with Israel
BEIRUT: Israeli strikes on Lebanon on Tuesday killed two people, one of them near Beirut, the Lebanese health ministry reported, with Israel saying it had targeted Hezbollah operatives.
Despite a November 2024 ceasefire that was supposed to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, Israel has kept up strikes on Lebanon and has also maintained troops in five southern areas it deems strategic.
Lebanon’s health ministry said an “Israeli enemy strike on a vehicle on the Jadra-Siblin road in the Shouf district killed one person and wounded five others.”
The area is around 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of the capital.
An AFP photographer saw a damaged goods truck with emergency workers and army personnel deployed at the scene.
Earlier, the ministry said one person was killed in an Israeli strike on a vehicle in Odaisseh near the border with Israel.
In separate statements, the Israeli army said it targeted two Hezbollah members, without providing further details.
On Sunday, Israeli strikes killed three people in separate parts of Lebanon according to the health ministry, with Israel saying it killed Hezbollah members.
Around 340 people have been killed by Israeli attacks on Lebanon since the ceasefire agreement went into force, according to an AFP tally of health ministry reports.
Israel usually says the strikes target Hezbollah members and infrastructure, and aim to stop the group from rearming.
Tuesday’s attacks come as the ceasefire monitoring committee, which includes France and the United States, is set to meet later this week.
According to the ceasefire, Hezbollah was required to pull its forces north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border with Israel, and have its military infrastructure in the vacated area dismantled.
Under a government-approved plan, Lebanon’s army is to disarm Hezbollah south of the Litani by the end of the year, before tackling the rest of the country.