Houthis Abduct UN Workers After Israeli Airstrike Kills Senior Ministers

Latest Developments

Houthis Take More UN Workers Hostage: Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen took at least 11 UN workers from the World Food Program and UNICEF hostage after the terrorist group’s operatives raided UN offices in the cities of Sana’a and Hodeidah. Yemen’s internationally recognized government denounced the ongoing “frenzied abduction campaign,” stating that additional staffers had been abducted in the following days. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the raid and called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of the hostages. The terrorist group, which controls large parts of Yemen, has seized 23 UN staffers over the last four years, one of whom died in captivity.
Houthi Prime Minister Killed in Israeli Strike: The raid followed an Israeli airstrike that killed at least 12 Houthi-controlled government ministers on August 28, including Houthi “Prime Minister” Ahmed al-Rahawi. Israel’s strike came as the senior Houthi officials assembled to watch a prerecorded speech by Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi in southern Sana’a. The strike also came in response to the Houthis’ continuing barrage of missiles and drones at Israel, including a missile with a cluster warhead on August 22. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised that the latest strike was “only the beginning of the strikes on senior officials in Sana’a — we will get to all of them.”
Houthis Vow Revenge on Spies at Funeral: Thousands of mourners at a funeral service for the ministers chanted the Houthi slogan “God is Great, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse the Jews.” Acting Houthi “Prime Minister” Mohamed Muftah vowed revenge against “the U.S. administration, the Zionist entity, the Zionist Arabs, and the spies inside Yemen.” On September 2, the IDF said that the Houthis launched two missiles and a drone toward Israel, but the missiles reportedly disintegrated over Saudi Arabia, and the drone was intercepted before it entered Israeli territory.

FDD Expert Response

“During this conflict, the Houthis have revealed a set of military capabilities that regional observers underestimated. At the same time, the group has made costly errors, such as concentrating senior members in a single location for Israel to attack. This miscalculation underscores the limits of the Houthis’ strategic judgment. Yet the group is likely to adapt, expand its capabilities, and remain a persistent threat to U.S. allies in the region well beyond the current conflict.” — Joe Truzman, Senior Research Analyst and Editor at FDD’s Long War Journal

“The Houthis, like Hamas, care little for the well-being of the people they claim to defend. They consistently implement strategies to maximize and exploit civilian suffering and then weaponize that suffering to advance the terror group’s anti-American objectives and sick ideology. Taking World Food Program and UNICEF workers hostage in Yemen is not exactly the strategy one would employ if a group were focused on reducing the suffering of civilians.” — Bradley Bowman, Senior Director of FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power

“The Houthis’ increasing paranoia is once again turned on UN personnel — an easy target for the Yemeni terrorist group given the UN’s historically weak stance on Houthi abuses. These latest abductions again pose the question of whether the UN can continue functioning in Houthi-controlled territory without a comprehensive overhaul of its operations.” — Bridget Toomey, Research Analyst