At least 19 U.N. employees were detained by the Iranian-backed Houthis during raids on U.N. offices in Yemen’s capital, the United Nations said Tuesday, a higher number than originally reported.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said 18 of those being held are Yemeni staffers and one is an international employee. He called for all to be released immediately.

The raids were the latest in a long-running Houthi crackdown on the U.N. and other international organizations as well as diplomats working in rebel-held areas. Dujarric said the Houthis previously had detained 23 U.N. employees, holding some since 2021.

U.N. special envoy Hans Grundberg just ended a visit to Oman’s capital, Muscat, where he met Houthi chief negotiator Mohammed Abdelsalam and representatives of the diplomatic community, the U.N. spokesman said.

Dujarric said the envoy reiterated the U.N.’s strong condemnation of the detentions and forced entry into its offices, warning that the Houthi action seriously endangers the U.N.’s ability to deliver aid to the people of Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country.

(AP)