Yemen: New arrests targeting United Nations employees in Sanaa

Arab Sea Newspaper - Follow-ups

Arabian Sea - Yemen - Follow-ups: On Saturday, the security services of the Houthi group launched a campaign of raids targeting a number of headquarters of international and UN organizations in the capital, Sana'a, followed by arrests of employees working in those organizations. Local sources said that the group's militants stormed the headquarters of the World Food Program and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and arrested a number of employees of the information technology departments, before imposing a tight security cordon on the two buildings and other offices of relief organizations. According to the sources, these arrests came after the recent Israeli strikes that targeted a meeting of Houthi leaders in Sana'a, which resulted in the death of the head of the group's unrecognized government and a number of its ministers and prominent leaders, as the group accused workers in international organizations of "espionage." Last year, the Houthis carried out a similar campaign that included dozens of local employees in UN and relief organizations, including workers in the United Nations Development Program, UNICEF, the Norwegian Refugee Council, and the World Food Program, in addition to employees in civil society organizations and diplomatic missions, most of whom are still in detention today on charges related to "espionage" and "collaboration."