Yemen – The United States called on the Yemeni Houthi group on Wednesday to release all detained UN and NGO employees, and diplomatic mission staff.
This came in a press conference by US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, published by the Washington Embassy in Yemen via the “X” platform.
On June 10, the Houthi group announced in a statement that it had “arrested an American-Israeli spy cell in official and unofficial institutions in Yemen,” without specifying their identities or nationalities.
Miller called on the Houthis, at the press conference, “to release all detained UN and NGO staff, and diplomatic mission staff, who were arrested last month.”
He condemned the “illegal arrests carried out by the Houthis,” noting that “they have nothing to do with the conflict in Gaza (the Israeli war on the Strip began on October 7).”
He considered that “such actions alienate the international community, complicate the process of providing humanitarian aid, and endanger the Yemeni peace process.”
On July 2, the head of the Houthi government (not internationally recognized) announced that the group would release the detained UN employees in the capital, Sanaa, “following proving their innocence of spying for American and Israeli intelligence,” according to the group’s Saba News Agency.
This came following UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on June 11 for “the immediate and unconditional release of all 17 UN staff members detained in Yemen by the de facto Houthi authorities.”
On June 10, the group broadcast videos of Yemenis that it said were “confessions of them carrying out espionage activities in Yemen.”
In light of the current calm for regarding two years, Yemen has witnessed a war for regarding 10 years between forces loyal to the legitimate government, supported by an Arab military coalition backed by Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, and the forces of the Houthi group supported by Iran, which has controlled governorates, including the capital, Sanaa, since 2014.
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2024-07-12 01:34:46
