CAIRO — The deputy director of the UNICEF workplace in Yemen was launched from detention by Houthi rebels within the Yemeni capital metropolis and returned dwelling Thursday to Jordan, the Jordanian overseas ministry stated.
The liberating of Jordanian citizen Lana Shukri Kataw was introduced at a time of excessive tensions in Yemen and the bigger area. Israeli strikes on Yemen on Wednesday killed at the least 35 folks and wounded greater than 130 others.
Kataw was one in every of at the least 19 U.N. staffers who had been detained on Aug. 31 when the Iranian-backed Houthi insurgent group raided their workplaces within the capital metropolis of Sanaa.
The Houthis haven’t given a purpose for taking the U.N. staffers hostage. However the raids had been the most recent in a long-running Houthi crackdown on the U.N. and different worldwide organizations in addition to diplomats working in rebel-held areas.
In 2024, they detained at the least 11 U.N. staff and days later stated they’d arrested suspected members of an espionage community. The United Nations has denied these allegations.
The raids on workplaces of the United Nations’ meals, well being and kids’s businesses in Sanaa adopted Israel’s killing of Houthi Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi and a number of other Cupboard ministers in an airstrike the week earlier than.
It was not instantly clear precisely when Kataw was launched, however the Jordanian overseas ministry stated in a press release she was held in detention for days and that she arrived at a navy airport in Jordan on Thursday.
Flames and smoke rise following Israeli airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. Credit score: AP/Uncredited
It was unclear whether or not different staffers additionally had been freed.
Airstrikes this week
Israel carried out airstrikes on Yemen on Wednesday and rescue efforts continued on Thursday.
The victims in Wednesday’s Israeli airstrikes in Yemen included at the least two native journalists, Abduallah al-Bahri and Abbas al-Delmi, who had been killed within the strikes in central Sanaa, the households instructed The Related Press on Thursday.
They labored for information retailers referred to as 26 September and Sabaa information company.
Individuals examine the harm on the Nationwide Museum, following the Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025. Credit score: AP/Osamah Abdulrahman
Houthi chief Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, in his weekly deal with, accused Israel of focusing on media establishments and civilian infrastructure, however stated the strikes wouldn’t deter his group.
“Israel is a felony enemy that targets media establishments in Sanaa in locations crowded with civilians … as a result of it seeks to focus on everybody,” he stated.
Injury to Yemen’s nationwide museum
The airstrikes additionally brought about broken to Yemen’s nationwide museum and different historic websites within the capital, the Houthi tradition ministry stated Thursday.
The standing of the artifacts contained in the museum continues to be unclear, however 1000’s of historic artifacts are prone to harm, in response to the ministry. AP images and video footage from the positioning of Wednesday’s strike confirmed harm to the constructing’s facade.
The ministry referred to as on the United Nations cultural company UNESCO to sentence the assault and to intervene to assist shield the historic constructing and its artifacts.
Most of these killed had been in Sanaa, the capital, the place a navy headquarters and a gasoline station had been hit on Wednesday, the Houthi-run well being ministry stated.
Israel has beforehand launched waves of airstrikes in response to the Houthis’ firing of missiles and drones at Israel. The Iran-backed Houthis say they’re supporting Hamas and the Palestinians within the Gaza Strip, and on Sunday they despatched a drone that breached Israel’s multilayered air defenses and slammed right into a southern airport.
Israeli strikes in Lebanon
Individually, the Israeli navy stated Thursday it carried out strikes in Lebanon focusing on what it described as a Hezbollah “website used for the manufacturing and storage of strategic weapons” within the Bekaa valley and infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah within the space of Zrariyeh within the south.
Earlier, Lebanon’s well being ministry stated one particular person was killed in an Israeli drone strike focusing on a motorcyclist close to the town of Tyre in southern Lebanon. Lebanese officers additionally stated Israeli forces entered the border village of Aita al-Shaab and carried out a managed demolition of a constructing that had beforehand been a college for particular wants college students.
Since a U.S.-brokered ceasefire halted the most recent Israel-Hezbollah conflict in November, Israel has continued to hold out near-daily strikes in Lebanon that it says are aimed toward stopping the militant group from rebuilding its capabilities.
Lebanese officers say the strikes are in violation of the ceasefire.
