Yemen’s Houthi-run Foreign Ministry says UN should not shield espionage activities
Houthi officials called for raids on United Nations premises, accusing UN personnel of espionage and bias.
Yemen’s Houthi-run Foreign Ministry said United Nations officials’ legal immunities should not shield espionage activities, days after at least 18 UN personnel were detained in the capital Sanaa.
The UN said on Sunday that Houthi rebels raided its premises in Sanaa and detained UN staff, following an Israeli strike that killed the prime minister of the Houthi-run government and several other ministers.
Before the weekend raids the Houthis were already holding 23 UN personnel, some since 2021. Another UN staff member died while in Houthi custody in February.
“So far, the UNICEF and WFP (World Food Programme) offices remain under the Houthi control,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Wednesday, again calling for the immediate and unconditional release of all those detained.
He said the Houthis had also broken into the UN Development Programme complex.
People stand outside a fuel station one day after it was hit by Israeli airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, August 25, 2025. (credit: Stringer/Reuters)
Multiple UN complexes have been infiltrated
“We reiterate that the safety and security of UN personnel and property must be guaranteed and that the inviolability of UN premises must be respected at all times,” he said.
The Houthi-run Foreign Ministry also accused the UN of bias, saying it had condemned “legal measures taken by the government against spy cells involved in crimes,” but failed to denounce the Israeli attack, the Houthi-run news agency Saba reported on Wednesday.
Yemen has been split between a Houthi administration in Sanaa and a Saudi-backed government in Aden since the Iran-aligned Houthis seized Sanaa in late 2014, triggering a decade-long conflict.
The ministry added that Yemen respected “the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations … while emphasizing that these immunities do not protect espionage activities or those who engage in them, nor provide them with legal cover,” it added.
