UN food agency is shutting down operations in rebel-held northern Yemen, officials say

CAIRO (AP) — The United Nations food agency is shutting down its operations in the northern, rebel-held part of Yemen, following restrictions imposed by the Houthi rebels and harassment from the Iranian-backed group, U.N. officials said Thursday.

The World Food Program’s move is likely to worsen the dire humanitarian conditions in the impoverished Arab country amid the rebel Houthis' crackdown on U.N. workers and aid groups in areas under their control, as well as funding shortages.

Yemen descended into a devastating civil war in 2014, when the Houthis pushed from their northern stronghold of Saada province and seized the capital of Sanaa, forcing the internationally recognized government out and to the south, and eventually into exile.

The Houthis now control most of the country's north, including Sanaa, while the internationally recognized government, which is backed by a Saudi-led coalition, rules the south.

According to the U.N. officials, the WFP’s 365 staff members in northern Yemen will lose their jobs by the end of March. One official blamed the “insecure operating environment” in the Houthi-controlled areas and lack of sufficient funding for the WFP decision.

The officials, with direct knowledge of WFP decisions, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the yet-to-be announced shutdown.

Over the last few years, the Houthis have cracked down on the U.N. in their areas of control, detaining dozens of U.N. staffers as well as workers for nongovernmental and civil society groups, and staffers of diplomatic missions.

The rebels have escalated their crackdown in recent months, forcibly entering and occupying U.N. premises in Sanaa and other elsewhere. They have claimed, without offering evidence, that detained U.N. staff and employees of other organizations and embassies are spies, which the U.N. has denied.

The crackdown severely restricted humanitarian operations in the Houthi-held areas, which account to around 70% of humanitarian needs in the country, according to the U.N.

Ramesh Rajasingham, who directs humanitarian operations in Yemen, told the U.N. Security Council earlier this month that more than 18 million people in Yemen could face acute food insecurity in the coming month, with tens of thousands at risk of slipping into “catastrophic hunger” and facing famine-like conditions.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, said humanitarian operations in Yemen in 2025 were just 25% funded. The gap, OCHA said in a Jan. 4 report, forced U.N. agencies and aid groups to scale back life-saving services across all sectors, particularly health and protection programs.

This left “millions of people without essential care and exposed to heightened risks,” the agency said.

Associated Press writer Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.