Houthis Expel UN Official from Sanaa

The Houthi-led war in Yemen led to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis (AFP)
The Houthi-led war in Yemen led to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis (AFP)
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Houthis Expel UN Official from Sanaa

The Houthi-led war in Yemen led to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis (AFP)
The Houthi-led war in Yemen led to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis (AFP)

The Yemeni government on Sunday accused the international community of inaction in the face of Houthi terrorism, after the militia group expelled a UN official from Sanaa.

Yemeni Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said in a statement that the “Iran-linked Houthi terrorist militia has expelled the Deputy Representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Sana, Safir Al-Din Sayed, from its controlled areas.

He said the move is part of Houthi militia’s restrictions on UN agencies in Yemen.

AL-Eryani said this comes three years after the group has banned the OHCHR’s Representative Renaud Detalle, who was appointed in 2020, from entering the agency’s office in Sanaa, just as it did with the former representative Al-Obaid Ahmad.

The Yemeni minister said the Houthi move also came weeks after the group has killed Hisham Al-Hakimi, the security and safety director at the international charity Save the Children. Hakimi was in Houthi detention for two months.

He recalled that three month ago, the militia group kidnapped three UN employees, including two since November 2021 and one since August 2023, not to mention three former and current US embassy staffers.

Al-Eryani condemned Houthis’ actions as having been the result of the failure of the international community, mainly the UN and its agencies, to shoulder their duties to address them.



WHO Chief Says He Was at Yemen Airport as Israeli Bombs Fell Nearby

FILE: A crater is seen on the tarmac of the international airport of Yemen's capital Sanaa, April 29, 2015. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
FILE: A crater is seen on the tarmac of the international airport of Yemen's capital Sanaa, April 29, 2015. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
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WHO Chief Says He Was at Yemen Airport as Israeli Bombs Fell Nearby

FILE: A crater is seen on the tarmac of the international airport of Yemen's capital Sanaa, April 29, 2015. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
FILE: A crater is seen on the tarmac of the international airport of Yemen's capital Sanaa, April 29, 2015. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

A wave of Israeli airstrikes hit Yemen's main airport Thursday just as the World Health Organization’s director-general said he was about to board a flight there. One of the UN plane’s crew was wounded, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X.

The Israeli military said it attacked infrastructure used by Yemen's Houthis at the international airport in the capital Sanaa, as well as power stations and ports, alleging they were used to smuggle in Iranian weapons and for the entry of senior Iranian officials, The AP reported.

UN associate spokesperson Stephanie Tremblay said the rest of the U.N. team left the airport and are “safe and sound” in Sanaa, and the injured crew member is being treated in a hospital, she said.

Last week, Israeli jets bombed Sanaa and Hodeida, killing nine people. The US military also has targeted the Houthis in Yemen in recent days.

Israel's latest wave of strikes in Yemen follows several days of Houthi launches setting off air-raid sirens in Israel. The Houthis have also been targeting shipping in the Red Sea corridor, calling it solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel's war in Gaza has killed over 45,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its count.