Cairo: In a sharp escalation of tensions between the United Nations and Yemen’s Houthi movement, Iran-backed Houthi rebels detained 20 UN employees on Sunday in the capital city of Sanaa, following a raid on another UN compound just a day earlier. The incident marks one of the most severe assaults yet on international humanitarian operations in the war-torn nation.

According to Jean Alam, spokesperson for the UN resident coordinator’s office in Yemen, the detentions took place inside a UN facility located in the Hada district, a southwestern neighborhood of Sanaa. Among those taken were five Yemeni nationals and fifteen international employees, representing several UN agencies.

Alam confirmed that eleven other UN staffers who had been briefly held were later released after questioning

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