SANAA: Yemen’s Houthi militants have confiscated telecommunications equipment and vehicles from unstaffed United Nations offices in Sanaa, the world body said in a statement Friday, decrying potential disruptions to its humanitarian work.
The Houthis have repeatedly targeted UN agencies and detained dozens of its staff as part of a crackdown on alleged Israeli espionage rings since the start of the war in Gaza.
The actions threaten to worsen access to humanitarian services and aid in Houthi-controlled areas, where most of Yemen’s impoverished population lives.
On Thursday, the Houthis “entered at least six UN offices in Sanaa, all of which are currently unstaffed, and removed to an unknown location most of the telecommunication equipment in these offices and several UN vehicles,” the office of the resident and humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, Julien Harneis, said in a statement on X.
The Iran-backed group did not inform the UN why it had taken the assets, the statement said.
