On Sunday, August 31, 2025, Yemen’s capital Sanaa was thrown into turmoil as Iran-backed Houthi forces raided the offices of the United Nations’ food, health, and children’s agencies, detaining at least 11 U.N. employees. The move, which drew immediate international condemnation, marked a dramatic escalation in the region’s ongoing instability and underscored the deepening challenges facing humanitarian organizations operating in the war-torn country.
The raids were carried out just days after an Israeli airstrike killed the Houthi prime minister, Ahmed al-Rahawi, and several of his Cabinet members—a blow that reverberated through the rebel-controlled areas of Yemen and prompted a tightening of security across Sanaa. According to Associated Press and France 24, armed Houthi security forces stormed the U.N. World Food Program (WFP), World Health Organization (WHO), and UNICEF offices on Sunday morning. Employees were reportedly questioned in parking lots, and the premises were searched in what U.N. officials described as forced entry and seizure of property.
Abeer Etefa, a spokesperson for the WFP, told Associated Press, “WFP reiterates that the arbitrary detention of humanitarian staff is unacceptable.” UNICEF’s Ammar Ammar confirmed that a number of their staffers had been detained and that the agency was urgently seeking information from the Houthi authorities. Both agencies immediately began conducting a comprehensive head count of their employees in Sanaa and other Houthi-held areas, trying to account for their teams amid the chaos.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres issued a statement late Sunday, condemning the detentions and the “forced entry into the premises of the World Food Program, the seizure of U.N. property and attempts to enter other U.N. premises in Sanaa.” He called for the “immediate and unconditional release of the personnel detained Sunday as well as those detained in the past.” According to The Times of Israel, U.N. envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg echoed this condemnation, stating, “I strongly condemn the new wave of arbitrary detentions of U.N. personnel today in Sanaa and Hodeida… as well as the forced entry into U.N. premises and seizure of U.N. property.” Grundberg emphasized that “arrests violate the fundamental obligation to respect and protect their safety, dignity, and ability to carry out their essential work in Yemen.”
These recent detentions are not isolated incidents but part of a broader, long-running crackdown by the Houthis against the U.N. and other international organizations. Over the past few years, the Houthis have detained dozens of U.N. staffers, aid workers, and individuals associated with civil society groups and the now-closed U.S. Embassy in Sanaa. In January 2025, the rebels detained eight U.N. staffers in Saada, prompting the U.N. to suspend its operations in the northern stronghold. According to Grundberg, the Houthis were already holding 23 U.N. personnel, some since 2021 and 2023, before Sunday’s events.
The timing of the raids appears closely linked to the Israeli strike on Thursday, August 28, 2025, which targeted a routine workshop held by the Houthi government to evaluate its activities and performance over the past year. Among the dead were Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi, Foreign Minister Gamal Amer, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Local Development Mohammed al-Medani, Electricity Minister Ali Seif Hassan, Tourism Minister Ali al-Yafei, Information Minister Hashim Sharafuldin, and Deputy Interior Minister Abdel-Majed al-Murtada. The attack, confirmed by two Houthi officials and victims’ families, left a power vacuum at the top of the Houthi leadership. Defense Minister Mohamed Nasser al-Attefi survived the strike, while Interior Minister Abdel-Karim al-Houthi—one of the group’s most powerful figures—was not present at the meeting, according to Los Angeles Times.
The Houthis have not officially commented on the detentions, but their actions have been widely interpreted as a direct response to the Israeli strike. A funeral for the slain officials was scheduled for Monday, September 1, 2025, in Sabeen Square, central Sanaa, highlighting the gravity of the losses suffered by the rebel leadership.
The raids and detentions come against the backdrop of an intensifying regional conflict. On August 21, 2025, the Houthis launched a ballistic missile attack on Israel, targeting Ben Gurion Airport. The missile, which Israeli authorities described as the first cluster bomb launched at Israel by the Houthis since 2023, set off air raid sirens across central Israel and Jerusalem, forcing millions into shelters. The Houthis have repeatedly vowed to escalate their attacks on Israel and commercial shipping in the Red Sea. In a televised address on Sunday, September 1, 2025, the Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi declared, “Our military approach of targeting the Israeli enemy, whether with missiles, drones or a naval blockade, is continuous, steady, and escalating.”
In a statement quoted by France 24, U.N. envoy Hans Grundberg expressed “great concern” over Israel’s recent strikes in Houthi-controlled areas, warning, “Yemen cannot afford to become a battleground for a broader geopolitical conflict.” He called for urgent de-escalation, a sentiment echoed by numerous international observers who fear that the ongoing tit-for-tat attacks could further destabilize the already fragile country.
The situation in Yemen is dire, with more than half the population relying on humanitarian aid after a decade of civil war. The Houthis, who seized Sanaa in 2014 and now control large swathes of the country, have repeatedly accused international organizations of espionage—a claim the U.N. has categorically denied. In June 2024, the Houthis claimed to have arrested an “American-Israeli spy network” operating under the cover of humanitarian organizations, but the U.N. strongly rejected these allegations.
Local reactions in Sanaa have been mixed. Some residents, speaking anonymously to AFP for safety reasons, described the Israeli strike as “cowardly and brutal,” expressing dismay at those celebrating the violence. Others, like Ali, a resident who gave only his first name, decried the attack as “a blatant attack… against our country’s sovereignty.” The death of Prime Minister Rahawi, the most senior Houthi official killed since the group began its attacks on Israel and maritime traffic in November 2023, has only intensified anti-Israel sentiment among the Houthis and their supporters.
The United Nations and its agencies now face an increasingly perilous operating environment in Yemen. The arbitrary detention of staff, forced entry into premises, and ongoing threats from both the Houthis and the broader conflict have forced the U.N. to limit its deployments and suspend activities in some regions. As the humanitarian crisis deepens and the risk of wider regional escalation grows, the fate of the detained U.N. workers hangs in the balance, with international pressure mounting for their immediate release.
As Yemen’s capital braces for further unrest and the international community watches closely, the events of the past week serve as a stark reminder of the complex and volatile intersection of local grievances and global geopolitics that continues to define the country’s uncertain future.
