The UK "strongly" condemned the Houthi militia's storming of the US Embassy in Sanaa and capturing of a number of its employees. In a statement Saturday, UK Foreign Ministry called the Houthis to release the detained staff "immediately". It also demanded the Houthis withdrawal from the embassy compound, calling them to respect all international conventions and treaties. The foreign Ministry stressed that the protection and respect of diplomatic premises and staff is one of the basic principles of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. The Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry, too on Saturday, voiced its condemnation and denunciation of Houthi militia's storming of the US Embassy in Sanaa and capturing of a number of its employees. In a statement, the ministry said this internationally criminalized act is a flagrant breach of international norms, international law, the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the 1968 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, which prohibit the storming of diplomatic property and grants immunity to diplomatic missions and buildings. The ministry underlined that the State of Kuwait totally backs the US, while calling on Houthi militia to observe international law rules by withdrawing from the embassy building immediately and setting free its detained local staffers. ( Houthi rebels backed by Iran continue to hold Yemeni employees of the US government hostage, the State Department confirmed Thursday. Earlier this week reports surfaced that showed 25 Yemenis in Yemen's largest city of Sanaa, who worked for the US Embassy and USAID, had been arbitrarily detained by the rebel group. A State Department spokesman told Fox News the "majority" of the hostages have been released, but that embassy staff "continue to be detained without explanation." "We have been unceasing in our behind-the-scenes diplomatic efforts to secure their release," press secretary Ned Price told reporters Thursday. "We've seen some progress, and we're continuing to work this critical issue." The US closed its Yemen embassy in 2015 amid a violent civil war that has since led to the greatest humanitarian crisis in the world, according to the United Nations. Though while American diplomats were sent stateside, some Yemeni staff continued to work from home or as security guards at the embassy, Bloomberg reported. It remains unclear which members of the embassy staff have been arrested by the rebel group, but the compound has also been breached, according to a State Department spokesperson. "We call on the Houthis to immediately vacate it and return all seized property," the spokesman said. "The US government will continue its diplomatic efforts to secure the release of our staff and the vacating of our compound, including through our international partners." — Agencies
