UN suspends trips into Houthi-held areas of Yemen after more staff detained

After the Iranian-backed fighters detained more of its staff, the UN has suspended all travel to Yemen’s Houthis’s holdings.

The statement on Friday came a day after the Houthis also detained individuals associated with the shuttered&nbsp, United States embassy in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, and aid groups.

The UN statement read, “Augsburg, the de facto authorities in Sanaa detained additional UN personnel working in areas under their control.”

The United Nations has prohibited all official travel into and within areas under the de facto control of the de facto authorities in order to protect the safety and security of all its employees.

The UN stated that it was “actively engaging with senior representatives” of the organization, which had held Yemen’s capital since 2014, but did not specify how many people were being detained in the most recent swoop.

Since 2015, the Houthis have been at war with a coalition led by Saudi Arabia fighting for Yemen’s exiled government.

The Houthis did not immediately acknowledge the UN’s decision, which came as they began to reduce their attacks on shipping and Israel following the establishment of a ceasefire in the Gaza-Israeli conflict.

However, the Houthis have run a campaign targeting UN staff, aid workers and others for some time.

People who they claim to work with Western intelligence agencies or the Israelis have also been exposed in a series of programs that the group has been broadcast on their controlled television channels.

President Trump reinstated a “terrorist” designation he had previously made to the organization during his first term in office, which was removed by President Joe Biden, possibly stoking the possibility of fresh hostilities with the rebels.

More than 18 million people in Yemen, according to the UN, are in need of assistance and protection in one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.