SANAA/UNITED NATIONS - Yemen's Houthi group on Monday released 20 United Nations staff members detained two days earlier in the capital Sanaa over allegations of spying for Israel, UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg said.
"All fifteen international UN staff are now free to move inside the UN compound in Sanaa and are in contact with their respective UN entities and families," Grundberg said in an emailed statement.
He added that five Yemeni UN employees who had been held since Oct 18 in the same compound were also released, and that Houthi security forces had vacated the UN premises.
Despite the releases, at least 53 UN aid workers remain in Houthi detention in Sanaa on similar espionage accusations dating back to 2023, according to a Houthi source. Most are employees of the World Food Program and the UN children's agency UNICEF.
On Saturday, a Yemeni security official told Xinhua that Houthi forces stormed the UN compound, seized employees' mobile phones, and interrogated staff members.
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Meanwhile, the UN Country Team in Yemen said on Monday that five Yemeni UN staff have been released, and another 15 international personnel who had been detained are now free to move inside the same compound.
In a note to correspondents, the team said that the international staff are in contact with their respective UN entities and families.
The Houthis released 11 local employees late Sunday from the UN Common Accommodation Facility on Hadda Street, a source from the UN Office in Yemen told Xinhua on Monday.
The mass detentions have heightened UN concerns over the safety of humanitarian workers in Houthi-controlled areas, where the organization continues to coordinate aid operations amid a prolonged conflict and worsening humanitarian crisis.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday condemned the renewed allegations and arbitrary arrests, saying he was "gravely concerned" by the accusations, including those made by Houthi leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi on Oct 16.
Guterres "categorically rejects all such allegations", warning they are "dangerous and unacceptable" and put UN and aid workers at serious risk while threatening essential relief operations.
The latest arrests came two days after Abdulmalik al-Houthi accused UN staff in a televised speech of collaborating with Israel in deadly August airstrikes on Sanaa that killed several senior Houthi officials, including the group's chief of staff, Mohammed Abdulkarim al-Gumari. Israel said the strikes were in response to Houthi missile attacks. The UN has denied the accusations.
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Houthi authorities have also reportedly pressured UN agencies to replace local staff in Sanaa with workers loyal to the group.
The Houthis seized Sanaa and much of northern Yemen in late 2014, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention the following year.
Since the Gaza conflict erupted in October 2023, the group has launched missiles and drones toward Israel and targeted commercial ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, damaging dozens of vessels and sinking four. The Houthis say their attacks are in solidarity with the Palestinians.
