Houthis order US, British nationals to leave Yemen in one month

Yemen’s Houthi authorities issued a directive on Wednesday, instructing staff from the US and the UK affiliated with the United Nations and humanitarian organisations based in Sanaa to vacate the country within a month, Reuters quoted a document and a Houthi official as saying.

This decision comes in the wake of military actions conducted by the United States and the United Kingdom, with support from other nations, targeting the military installations of the Iran-aligned group. The Houthi group has been carrying out attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea, claiming that these actions are connected to Israel.

Last week, the US government reinstated the Houthis on the list of terrorist groups, as part of Washington’s efforts to curb attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea. The Houthis assert that their attacks are a show of solidarity with the Palestinians during Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.

“The ministry … would like to stress that you must inform officials and workers with US and British citizenships to prepare to leave the country within 30 days,” Reuters quoted a letter sent by the Houthi foreign ministry to the UN’s acting humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, Peter Hawkins.

The letter also ordered foreign organisations to not hire American and British citizens for Yemen’s operations.

According to Reuters, Houthi top negotiator Mohammed Abdulsalam confirmed the letter’s authenticity to the media outlet. However, the office of Hawkins, who is himself a British national, did not respond to a request for comment, it added.

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The US embassy said in a statement it was aware of reports about the letter but “cannot speak on behalf of the UN or humanitarian organisations in Yemen as to what they may have received from Houthi ‘authorities’”.

The British embassy said staff had not yet been told to leave and the mission was in close contact with the UN on the issue.

“The UN provide vital assistance to the Yemeni people … via the very sea routes that the Houthis are jeopardising,” Reuters quoted the British mission in Yemen as saying in a statement. “Nothing should be done that hinders their ability to deliver,” it added.

The Houthi movement controls much of Yemen after nearly a decade of war against a U.S.-backed and Saudi-led coalition. The war has shifted to a “no-war, no-peace” stalemate as the fighting has largely stopped, but both parties have failed to renew formally a U.N.-brokered ceasefire.

US and British warplanes, ships and submarines have launched dozens of air strikes across Yemen in retaliation for Houthi attacks as container vessels have been forced to divert from the Red Sea, the fastest freight route from Asia to Europe.

US and British forces on Tuesday targeted a Houthi underground storage site as well as missile and surveillance capabilities, the Pentagon said.

With inputs from agencies