Yemeni government urges UN to relocate after Houthis seize Sanaa office

The Yemeni government called on the United Nations to relocate its operations to the southern city of Aden after Houthi terrorists on Tuesday raided and seized the former headquarters of the UN Human Rights mission in the capital, Sanaa.

Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani made the appeal via social media platform X, reiterating the need for "the United Nations mission, all UN agencies, [and] international organizations operating in Yemen" to immediately relocate to Aden and other liberated areas. “This serious development comes nearly two months after the wave of kidnappings launched by the Houthi militia,” Eryani said

Upon entering the facility on August 3, Houthi terrorists compelled the building’s remaining Yemeni staff to hand over their personal belongings, including documents, furniture, and vehicles, and now occupy the grounds, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said Tuesday.  

The Houthis, or Ansar Allah as they are officially known, have waged an active campaign to take control of Sanaa from Yemen’s internationally recognized government in 2014 as part of a series of coups and mass demonstrations led by the group’s leaders.  

“Ansar Allah forces must leave the premises and return all assets and belongings immediately,” Türk said in a statement.  

Seen as part of the Iran-aligned terror group's wider clampdown on aid organizations and foreign embassies operating in the impoverished country, the Iran-aligned Houthis detained more than 60 people working for humanitarian organizations in June, including 11 UN staff, as part of a sting on an alleged “American Israeli spy network.”  

UN employees arrested and jailed by Houthis

Six of the UN employees arrested in June worked for the Human Rights Office, the agency said, adding that two more of their colleagues were jailed in November 2021 and August 2023.  

Historically based in Yemen’s northwest and belonging to the Zaidi Shia sect of Islam, the Houthis are closely aligned with Iran. Tehran provides the Houthis and other armed groups with weapons, training, and funding through its extraterritorial Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force as part of a larger regional strategy aimed at weakening its main rivals, namely Saudi Arabia and Israel.  

More than 150,000 people have died in the civil war between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed, internationally-recognized government.